Storage and retrieval system rover interface

ABSTRACT

An automated storage and retrieval system including at least one autonomous rover for transferring payload within the system and including a communicator, a multilevel storage structure, each level allowing traversal of the at least one autonomous rover, at least one registration station disposed at predetermined locations on each level and being configured to communicate with the communicator to at least receive rover identification information, and a controller in communication with the at least one registration station and configured to receive the at least rover identification information and at least one of register the at least one autonomous rover as being on a level corresponding to a respective one of the at least one registration station or deregister the at least one autonomous rover from the system, where the controller effects induction of the at least one autonomous rover into a predetermined rover space on the level.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/317,659, filed May 11, 2021, (now U.S. Pat. No. 11,718,475), which isa continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/293,309, filedMar. 5, 2019, (now U.S. Pat. No. 11,001,444), which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/598,969, filed May 18, 2017, (nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,221,013), which is a divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/348,786, filed Mar. 31, 2014, (now U.S. Pat. No.9,656,803) and claims the benefit of International Application No.PCT/US2014/026502, having an international filing date of Mar. 13, 2014,which designated the United States of America and which is anon-provisional of and claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/783,828, filed on Mar. 14, 2013, U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/780,363, filed on Mar. 13, 2013, and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 61/798,282, filed Mar. 15, 2013, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The exemplary embodiments generally relate to material handling and,more particularly, to autonomous rovers within a material handlingsystem.

2. Brief Description of Related Developments

Automated storage and retrieval systems, such as in a warehouseenvironment, may use autonomous vehicles/rovers to place items instorage and retrieve those items from storage. Where the automatedstorage and retrieval systems include multiple levels, the autonomousvehicles/rovers are generally brought to each level by driving thevehicle up and down ramps connecting the different levels or by liftingthe vehicles/rovers to each level using a fork lift or hoist.

In addition, when operating in the storage and retrieval system thelocation of the autonomous vehicles/rovers must be known. The locationof these vehicles generally is determined using GPS like systems,optical systems and radio frequency systems.

It would be advantageous to be able to easily transport autonomousvehicles/rovers to and from each level of a storage and retrievalsystem. It would also be advantageous to provide automatedregistration/deregistration of autonomous vehicles/rovers in/from theautomated storage and retrieval system. It would be further advantageousto provide positioning data to autonomous vehicles/rovers lacking anyprevious positioning data.

Material handling systems such as, for example, automated storage andretrieval systems, cycle storage items to storage locations (e.g.shelves of a storage rack) in a storage array of an automated warehouseor store. Storage racks with dynamically allocated storage locations mayexpect to be subject to a higher number of load cycles during a lifespan/term of the automated storage and retrieval system, because of thehigher usage rate of each potential storage location, when compared toconventional storage racks (where storage locations are fixed atpredetermined locations of the shelves). Conventional storage structureshave generally neglected fatigue concerns, and to the limited extentfatigue loads have been incorporated into the design of the conventionalstorage structure, such loads appear to be related to gross storageloads on the structure, rather than loading from automation (e.g. loadsfrom automated material handlers with various payloads traversing thestorage structure or payload transfer actions).

Also, conventional automated storage and retrieval systems may providefor the scanning of items after a seismic or other event that may causemovement of the stored items. Automation may be used to determine theposition of the affected storage items so that the items can be moved totheir correct positions. Generally, this scanning is done to facilitaterecovery of the automated storage and retrieval system once theautomated storage and retrieval system is shut down as a result of theseismic or other event.

It would be advantageous to have a storage structure that incorporatesfatigue considerations with respect to loading from automation of theautomated storage and retrieval system. It would also be advantageous tohave a storage structure that facilitates maintaining operation after aseismic or other event that may cause movement of the stored items.

The autonomous vehicles/rovers may include energy storage units thatrequire charging before initial use and during use such as whenrecharging upon depletion.

It would be advantageous to have a charging system for charging anautonomous vehicle's/rover's energy storage unit. It would also beadvantageous to charge an autonomous vehicle's/rover's energy storageunit where the autonomous vehicle/rover may be transferring material orwherever the autonomous vehicle/rover may be located.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the disclosed embodiment areexplained in the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an automated storage and retrievalsystem in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are schematic illustrations of portions of theautomated storage and retrieval system of FIG. 1 in accordance withaspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a portion of the automated storageand retrieval system of FIG. 1 in accordance with aspects of thedisclosed embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a portion of the automated storageand retrieval system of FIG. 1 in accordance with aspects of thedisclosed embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a portion of a rover lift modulein accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment;

FIGS. 7, 8A and 8B are schematic illustrations of a portion of a storagerack of the automated storage and retrieval system in accordance withaspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 9A-9D are schematic illustrations of a rover travel rail inaccordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of a portion of the automatedstorage and retrieval system in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment;

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of a rover travel rail mountingbracket in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 are schematic illustrations of a portion of theautomated storage and retrieval system in accordance with aspects of thedisclosed embodiment;

FIGS. 15, 16A-16C, 17A-17B and 18 are schematic illustrations ofportions of a compliant interface in accordance with aspects of thedisclosed embodiment;

FIGS. 19A-19C are schematic illustrations of a rover charging contact inaccordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a schematic illustration of an autonomous rover chargingsystem in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary charging station inaccordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIGS. 22A-22C are schematic illustrations of an exemplary implementationof a charging system in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment;

FIG. 23 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary implementation of acharging system in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 24 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary implementation of acharging system in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 25 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary implementation of acharging system in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIGS. 26A and 26B are schematic illustrations of an exemplary set ofcharging pads in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 27 illustrates different charging modes for an autonomous rover inaccordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 28 is a schematic illustration of a control system for controllingan autonomous rover charging system in accordance with aspects of thedisclosed embodiment;

FIG. 29 is a schematic illustration of a system using a transportablecharger in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 30 is a schematic illustration of a system using a transportablecharger in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment;

FIG. 31 is a schematic illustration of a charging system in accordancewith aspects of the disclosed embodiment; and

FIG. 32 is a flow diagram in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an automated storage and retrievalsystem in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment. Althoughthe aspects of the disclosed embodiment will be described with referenceto the drawings, it should be understood that the aspects of thedisclosed embodiment can be embodied in many forms. In addition, anysuitable size, shape or type of elements or materials could be used.

In accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment the automatedstorage and retrieval system 100 may operate in a retail distributioncenter or warehouse to, for example, fulfill orders received from retailstores for case units such as those described in U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/326,674 filed on Dec. 15, 2011, the disclosure of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

The automated storage and retrieval system 100 may include in-feed andout-feed transfer stations 170, 160, input and output vertical liftmodules 150A, 150B (generally referred to as lift modules 150), roverlift modules 190, a storage structure 130, and a number of autonomousrovers 110. The storage structure 130 may include automatic roverregistration stations 130R (referred to herein as registration stations130R) and multiple levels 130L of storage rack modules. Each storagelevel 130L includes storage spaces 130S and storage or picking aisles130A (having rover travel surfaces, as will be described below) which,e.g., provide access to the storage spaces 130S and transfer decks 130Bover which the rovers 110 travel on a respective storage level 130L fortransferring case units between any of the storage spaces 130S (e.g.disposed on storage shelves 130SH located on one or more sides of thepicking aisles 130A) of the storage structure 130 and any shelf of thelift modules 150. The storage aisles 130A, and transfer decks 130B arealso configured to allow the rovers 110 to traverse the storage aisles130A and transfer decks 130B for placing case units into picking stockand to retrieve ordered case units.

The rovers 110 may be any suitable autonomous vehicles capable ofcarrying and transferring case units throughout the storage andretrieval system 100. In one aspect the rover 110 may be automated,independent (e.g. free riding) rovers. Suitable examples of rovers canbe found in, for exemplary purposes only, U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/326,674 filed on Dec. 15, 2011; U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/757,312 filed on Apr. 9, 2010; U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/326,423 filed on Dec. 15, 2011; U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/326,447 filed on Dec. 15, 2011; U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/326,505 Dec. 15, 2011; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/327,040filed on Dec. 15, 2011; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/326,952filed on Dec. 15, 2011; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/326,993filed on Dec. 15, 2011, the disclosures of which are incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. The rovers 110 may be configuredto place case units, such as the above described retail merchandise,into picking stock in the one or more levels of the storage structure130 and then selectively retrieve ordered case units for shipping theordered case units to, for example, a store or other suitable location.Each rover 110 may include a controller 110C and a communicator 110T.

The rovers 110, vertical lift modules 150, rover lift modules 190 andother suitable features of the storage and retrieval system 100 may becontrolled by, for example, one or more central system control computers(e.g. control server) 120 through, for example, any suitable network180. The network 180 may be a wired network, a wireless network or acombination of a wireless and wired network using any suitable typeand/or number of communication protocols. In one aspect, the controlserver 120 may include a collection of substantially concurrentlyrunning programs (e.g. system management software) for substantiallyautomatic control of the automated storage and retrieval system 100. Thecollection of substantially concurrently running programs may beconfigured to manage the storage and retrieval system 100 including, forexemplary purposes only, controlling, scheduling, and monitoring theactivities of all active system components, managing inventory (e.g.which case units are input and removed and where the case units arestored) and pickfaces (e.g. one or more case units that are movable as aunit), and interfacing with the warehouse management system 2500 as wellas monitoring and tracking, in any suitable manner, the input andremoval (i.e. the registration and deregistration) of rovers 110 at eachstorage level 130L.

Referring to FIG. 2A, a portion of the automated storage and retrievalsystem 100 is shown in accordance with aspects of the disclosedembodiment. The storage structure 130 may include one or more modularrover spaces 200A-200 n which may be accessed by one or more respectiverover lift 190A-190 n. As will be described in greater detail below,each rover lift 190 may be an entry/exit station that communicates with,for example, the transfer deck 130B on each level 130L of the storagestructure 130 for automatically transferring the rovers 110 to and fromeach storage level 130L (e.g. to populate each of the modular roverspaces 200A-200 n) independent of rover payload transport andindependent of the introduction and removal of case units to/from thestorage structure 130.

The automated storage and retrieval system 100 may be organized toeffect the modular rover space(s) 200A-200 n. For example, referringalso to FIG. 2B, in one aspect the automated storage and retrievalsystem 100 and storage structure 130 may be structured as one or morestorage module 270A-270 n where each storage module 270A-270 n includesstorage structure levels 130L (e.g. with picking aisles 130A, storagespaces 130S, transfer decks 130B and registration stations 130R),vertical lift modules 150, rover lift modules 190 and transfer stations160, 170. In one aspect the storage modules 270A-270 n may be individualmodules where, for example, the operation of the rovers 110 may beconfined to the storage modules 270A-270 n and/or modular rover spaces200A-200 n (e.g. defined within the respective storage module) in whichthey were placed for operation. In other aspects the storage modules270A-270 n may be coupled or otherwise connected to each other to formthe automated storage and retrieval system 100 such that rovers 110 maytransit between the storage modules 270A-270 n and/or modular roverspaces 200A-200 n. For example, one rover lift module can provide roversto one or more storage modules 270A-270 n. Rovers 110 may also be inputinto the storage structure 130 with one rover lift module and removedfrom the storage structure with a different rover lift module. In stillother aspects where the storage modules 270A-270 n are connected to eachother the rovers 110 may be confined to operation in one or more areasof the storage structure such as the modular rover spaces 200A-200 n inwhich the rovers 110 were introduced for operation or to a rover space200A-200 n in which the rover was reassigned.

In one aspect the storage modules 270A-270 n may have verticalboundaries VB and/or horizontal boundaries HB separating each storagemodule 270A-270 n. In other aspects each level 130L of the storagestructure 130 may have vertically staggered boundaries so that thestorage modules 270A-270 n vertically overlap one another (see storagemodule 270C in FIG. 2B and vertically staggered boundaries VB and VSB).Each storage module 270A-270 n may define a respective one or moremodular rover space 200A-200 n and, as noted above, may include one ormore rover lift modules 190-190 n so that entry and exit of the rovers110 may be provided at each storage level 130L of the storage module270A-270 n. In one aspect, referring also to FIG. 2C, each level 130L ofthe storage module may define a two dimensional modular rover space 2DRSwhile in other aspects the storage module as a unit may define a threedimensional modular rover space 3DRS. In still other aspects the modularrover space(s) may be defined in any suitable manner and with anysuitable boundaries within each storage module and/or among multiplestorage modules. For example, one or more storage levels 130L and/orportions of one or more storage levels of a storage module 270A-270 nmay define a three dimensional modular rover space. The entry and exitof the rovers 110 from each storage module 270A-270 n may be decoupledfrom case unit input/output within the storage structure 130. As will bedescribed in greater detail below, the rover lift modules 190-190 n maycommunicate with, for example, the controller 120 in any suitable manner(e.g. wired, wireless, etc.) for registering (upon entry) andderegistering (upon exit) each rover as it passes to and from, forexample, the rover lift module 190A-190 n.

In one aspect each of the storage modules 270A-270 n and/or modularrover spaces 200A-200 n may be coincident with rover safety zones (e.g.zones where rovers 110 can be quarantined/isolated and/or moved to arover lift module 190 for removal from the storage structure 130). Inother aspects each modular rover space 200A-200 n and/or storage module270A-270 n may have designated or predetermined areas defining roversafety zones or personnel access zones within the modular rover space200A-200 n and/or storage module 270A-270 n. Suitable examples ofpersonnel access zones can be found in, for example, U.S. provisionalpatent application No. 61/794,065 entitled “Automated Storage andRetrieval Structure with Integral Secured Personnel Access Zones andRemote Rover Shutdown” and filed on Mar. 13, 2013, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 one or more rover lift modules 190 can beinterfaced with the transfer deck 130B of one or more storage level130L. The interface between the rover lift modules 190 and the transferdecks 130B may be disposed at a predetermined location of the transferdecks 130B so that the input and exit of rovers 110 to each transferdeck 130B is substantially decoupled from throughput of the automatedstorage and retrieval system 100 (e.g. the input and output of the rover100 at each transfer deck does not affect throughput). In one aspect therover lift modules 190 may interface with a spur or staging area130B1-130Bn (e.g. rover loading platform) that is connected to or formspart of the transfer deck 130B for each storage level 130L. In otheraspects the rover lift modules 190 may interface substantially directlywith the transfer decks 130B. It is noted that the transfer deck 130Band/or staging area 130B1-130Bn may include any suitable barrier 320that substantially prevents a rover 110 from traveling off of thetransfer deck 130B and/or staging area 130B1-130Bn at the lift moduleinterface. In one aspect the barrier may be a movable barrier 320 thatmay be movable between a deployed position for substantially preventingthe rover 110 from traveling off of the transfer deck 130B and/orstaging area 130B1-130Bn and a retracted position for allowing the rover110 to transit between a lift platform 310 of the rover lift module 190and the transfer deck 130B and/or staging area 130B1-130Bn.

In addition to inputting or removing rovers 110 to and from the storagestructure 130, in one aspect, each rover lift module 190 may alsotransport rovers 110 between storage levels 130L without removing therovers 110 from the storage structure 130. The controller 120 mayutilize the rover lift modules 190 to effect rover balancing where awork load between the storage levels 130L is balanced through theintroduction of rovers 110 from outside the storage structure 130 into apredetermined storage level 130L, removal of rovers 110 from the storagestructure 130 and/or transfer of rovers 110 between storage levels 130Lwithout removing the rovers 110 from the storage structure 130. It isnoted that in one aspect the transfer of rovers 110 between differentstorage levels 130L with the rover lift modules 190 is performedindependent of rover payload transfer (e.g. case units/pickfaces are notdisposed on the rover when transferred between storage levels using therover lift modules). In other aspects, the rover 110 may carry a payloadwhile being transferred between storage levels using the rover liftmodules.

For exemplary purposes only, each rover lift module 190 may include asubstantially rigid frame 300 and a lift platform 310 movably coupled tothe frame 300. The frame 300 may have any suitable configuration forallowing the lift platform 310 to move between the storage levels 130L.The rover lift module 190 may include any suitable drive system 190Mthat is coupled to the lift platform 310 for causing movement of thelift platform in the direction of arrow Z (FIG. 3 ) between the storagelevels 130L.

Referring also to FIG. 5 the lift platform 310 includes a frame 310Fthat forms a rover support 510 having at least one opening 520 forallowing a rover 110 to transit to and from the rover support 510. Theframe 310F may have any suitable configuration and may be movablycoupled to the frame 300 and drive system 190M in any suitable manner.The movable coupling between frame 310F and the frame 300 may alsoinclude any suitable guide members to substantially prevent movement ofthe lift platform in the X-Y plane (FIG. 3 ). For exemplary purposes,the frame 310F may further include one or more fences 500-503 thatsubstantially surround the rover support 510 for substantiallypreventing the rover 110 from driving or otherwise moving off of thelift platform 310 during, for example, transport of the rover 110. Atleast one of the fences 500-503 may be movably mounted to the frame forallowing the rover 110 to transit between the rover support 510 and, forexample, the transfer deck 130B (and/or staging area 130B1-130Bn). Inone aspect the frame 310F includes a first end 310E1 and a second end310E2 longitudinally separated from the first end 310E1. The rover 110may travel onto and off of the lift platform along the longitudinal axisLA such that one or more of the fences 500, 501 located at the first andsecond ends 310E1, 310E2 can be moved between a first position forallowing the rover 110 to enter or exit the lift platform 310 and asecond position for retaining the rover on the lift platform 310. Fence501 may be similarly pivotable to allow for loading or removing therover 110 onto/from the lift platform 310 from, for example a floor (orother “ground” level) of a warehouse. In other aspects the rover 110 maybe loaded on the lift platform in any suitable manner such as through alateral side of the rover.

Referring again to FIG. 4 , maintenance access may be provided to therover lift module 190 in any suitable manner. In one aspect maintenanceplatforms 450P may be positioned on one more sides of the rover liftmodule 190. In one aspect the maintenance platforms may form part of therover lift module 190. The maintenance platforms 450P may be mounted torespective frames 450F1, 450F2 that may be coupled together by one ormore coupling members 450M. The frames 450F1, 450F2 have support columns450 (only some of which are shown in FIG. 4 ) to which the maintenanceplatforms 450P are mounted. Closable fences or other removable barriers410 may be coupled to the frame adjacent each maintenance platform 450P.A door 450T may also be provided at, for example, ground level whichwhen opened allows a rover 110 to be loaded and unloaded from the liftplatform 310 by, for example, pivoting fence 501 to a lowered positionso that the rover 110 can traverse over the pivoting fence onto therover support 510. In other aspects the access may be provided forloading the rover onto the lift platform in any suitable manner.

In one aspect the rover lift platform 310 may include a registrationstation 130R that has any suitable non-contact reader for identifyingwhich rover 110 is disposed on the lift platform 310. For example,referring to FIG. 5 , one or more readers 575, such as radio frequency,inductive, capacitive, magnetic, optical or other suitable non-contactreader or scanner, may be disposed at any suitable location on the liftplatform 310 for reading data from the communicator 110T disposed on therover 110. The communicator 110T may include any suitable optical, radiofrequency, inductive, capacitive, magnetic or other non-contact indiciafor providing identification information of the rover 110. The identityof the rover 110 may be communicated in any suitable manner by theregistration station 130R to a rover accountant (or other suitabletracking/record keeping unit) of, for example, control server 120 forautomatic verification and tracking of which rovers 110 are beingintroduced to or removed from the automated storage and retrieval system100. The controller 120 may also use the rover location informationobtained from the registration station 130R for controlling the rover110 (e.g. issuing suitable commands to the rover) in any suitablemanner. The controller 120 may maintain a log that includes dataindicating which storage levels the rovers are inserted and removed fromand include control software for recalculating traffic patterns and taskallocations for the rovers that remain on a storage level after roversare introduced or removed from that storage level. In other aspects theregistration station 130R may be disposed on the transfer deck 130Band/or staging area 130B1-130Bn (FIG. 3 ) at, e.g. a respectiveinterface with the rover lift 190.

Referring again to FIG. 1 , it may be desired that any rover 110 havecapability to commence operation substantially anywhere within thestorage structure 130. To do so, it is advantageous that a rover startposition be determined in a substantially autonomous manner. In oneaspect the registration station(s) 130R may be distributed throughoutthe storage structure 130 to provide a rover 110, which lacks roverprepositioning data, with sufficient positional data so that the rovercontroller 110C is capable of determining where the rover is within theautomated storage and retrieval system 100 (FIG. 6 , Block 700). Theregistration stations 130R may provide a rover 110 location and/orautomatic registration system to allow onset, offset and updatedregistrations of a rover for e.g. rover cold start (where the roverlacks prepositioning data) and bot induction/extraction update at anydesired locations throughout structure. The location of eachregistration station 130R may be mapped within a reference frame (e.g.global three dimensional reference space, in other aspects the globalreference space may have any suitable number of dimensions) of storagestructure 130. It is noted that when the rovers 110 and the registrationstations interface the location of the registration station the rover isinterfacing with is sent to both the rover 110 and the controller 120 toenable one or more of the autonomous rover control and control of therover by the controller 120.

The storage structure 130, transfer decks 130B, and picking aisles 130Amay be arranged with any suitable rover entry/exit features, such as therover lift modules 190 or any other structural features (e.g. ports,openings, platforms) for facilitating physical induction and extractionof bots on each storage level 130L. In one aspect the registrationstations 130R may be positioned at and associated with specificentry/exit stations, in a manner substantially similar to that describedabove with respect to the rover lift modules 190. The registrationstations 130R may be initialized and mapped to the storage threedimensional reference space with any suitable controller, such ascontrol server 120 (FIG. 6 , Block 710). Each registration station 130Rmay interface with or otherwise communicate with a rover(s) 110 (whichmay lack bot prepositioning data) (FIG. 6 , Block 720) that is within apredetermined proximity and/or orientation to the registration station130R. In one aspect the rover 110 may communicate with the registrationstation 130R to provide the rover 110 with location data where the roverlacks prepositioning data (FIG. 6 , Block 731) so that the rover 110 mayperform storage and retrieval operations (FIG. 6 , Block 732). As notedabove, the registration stations 130R may also be used at roverinduction and extraction points, such as the rover lift module 190, totell the rover 110 which location the rover 110 is being inserted intoor taken from. In another aspect, the registration station 130R maycollect data from the rover 110 (FIG. 6 , Block 730) and transmit thatdata to the controller 120 (FIG. 6 , Block 740) where the data may besufficient for autonomous rover registration (FIG. 6 , Block 750) withthe controller 120 (i.e. the data may provide a unique roveridentification and a location of the rover in the global threedimensional reference space of the automated storage and retrievalsystem 100). This allows the controller 120 to effect rover inductioninto, for example, the modular rover space 200A-200 n (FIG. 2A) whichmay be related to the global three dimensional reference space.Conversely rover 110 extraction may be performed so that a rover isderegistered (FIG. 6 , Block 751) from the automated storage andretrieval system, in a manner substantially similar to that describedabove, when the rover exits the storage structure 130. The roverregistration and deregistration may automatically update the systemsoftware with the induction or extraction information (e.g. which rover110 is being inserted or removed and on what storage level 130L), aswell as automatically check other configuration settings of theautomated storage and retrieval system 100.

It is noted that registration stations 130R may be provided at anysuitable locations within the storage structure 130 such as, forexample, vertical lift 150 stations, interfaces between the pickingaisles 130A and transfer decks 130B, and at suitable intervals alongtransfer decks 130B and/or picking aisles 130A. In one aspect, theregistration stations 130R may also serve as odometry updates (e.g. therover has preposition data) where the registration station 130R providespositioning data to a rover 110 to update or otherwise correct alocation of the rover 110 within the storage structure 130 (FIG. 6 ,Block 733). In aspect, the registration stations 130R may be placedthroughout the storage structure 130 to provide continuous updates ofrover position. The communicator 110T of the rover may also beconfigured to obtain data from the registration stations 130R in anysuitable manner. The registration stations 130R can be used by the rover110 to determine where the rover 110 is during normal operation if therover 110 ever needs to reset itself.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 7, 8A and 8B, as noted above, the storagestructure 130 may include a multilevel storage structure including anarray of stacked storage locations. Each array may include verticalsupport members 7200 to which rover travel rails 7201A-7201 n (generallyreferred to as rover rails 7201) are fixed. The rover rails 7201 maydefine storage levels and transport levels. The rover rails 7201 mayform a riding surface for the rover 110 to travel along through, forexample, the picking aisles 130A (FIG. 1 ) or any other suitablelocation of the automated storage and retrieval system. The rover rails7201 may support the rover 110 within, e.g., the picking aisles 130Aduring payload transfer between the rover 110 and the storage locations.Accordingly, the rover rails 7201 may be subject to static and cyclicloads from rover 110 activity including the rover traversing the pickingaisles 130A to and from rack storage locations, transferring payloads toand from storage locations (which may include pickface building at theshelf). Cyclic loading on the rover rails 7201 may create fatigueconditions that may be amplified by dynamic storage distribution (asdescribed in, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/757,337 filed onApr. 9, 2010 the disclosure or which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety) along the aisles. As such, the rover rails 7201 mayinclude or otherwise incorporate fatigue resistant featurescorresponding to any suitable predetermined lifetime loading of therover rails 7201. The fatigue resistant features may be configured sothat a stress at or surrounding the fatigue resistant features is belowa predetermined value.

The rover travel rails 7201 may be fixed to the vertical support members7200 in any suitable manner. In one aspect the rover rails 7201 may befixed to the vertical support members using any suitable upper mountingbracket 7202U and any suitable lower mounting bracket 7202L. In anotheraspect, the rover rails 7201 may be fixed to the vertical supportmembers 7200 with an adjustable mounting bracket in a manner similar tothat described below with respect to FIG. 11 . Here the mountingbrackets 7202U, 7202L each have an angle iron shape (e.g. an “L” shape)but in other aspects the mounting brackets 7202U, 7202L may have anysuitable shape and be constructed of any suitable material. The mountingbrackets 7202U, 7202L may be fixed to the vertical support members 7200using any suitable fasteners including but not limited to rivets, bolts,clips, screws, snaps, welding or any other suitable mechanical and/orchemical fasteners or adhesives. The rover rails 7201 may be fixed tothe mounting brackets 7202U, 7202L in any suitable manner such as in amanner substantially similar to that described above between themounting brackets 7202U, 7202L and the vertical support members 7200.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 9A-9D each of the rover rails 7201 may be,for example, one piece members of unitary construction formed by anysuitable manufacturing process such as cold rolling. The rover rails maybe disposed on opposite lateral sides of a picking aisle 130A and extendlongitudinally along a length of the picking aisle 130A for allowing therover 110 to travel along the length of the picking aisle 130A. Therover rails 7201 may have any suitable length such that in one aspect,the rover rails 7201 have a length substantially equal to a length of arespective picking aisle 130A, while in other aspects the rover rails7201 are placed end to end for spanning a length of the respectivepicking aisle 130A. The rover rails 7201 may include a fatigue resistantvertical profile portion 7400. The vertical profile portion 7400 mayhave any suitable shape such as, for example, a closed box section withone or more axis of symmetry that provides static and dynamic stability.The vertical profile portion 7400 may define or otherwise includeflanges 7401, 7402 for, e.g., fastener engagement to the verticalsupport members 7200 and/or the storage shelves 130SH (FIG. 1 ). Theflanges 7401, 7402 may be referred to as upper and lower flangesrespectively. The upper and lower flanges 7401, 7402 may include fatigueresistant apertures 7406 through which suitable fasteners, such as thosedescribed above, are inserted for fixing the respective mountingbrackets 7202U, 7202L to the rover rail 7201 in any suitable manner. Theupper flange 401 may also include fatigue resistant apertures 7407through which suitable fasteners, such as those described above, areinserted for fixing the storage shelves 130SH to the rover rail 7201 inany suitable manner.

The one piece rover rail 7201 may also define a fatigue resistant flange7403 that extends from a face 7404 of the vertical profile portion 7400and provides a travel/riding and support surface 7403S for, e.g., wheelsof the rover 110 during rover operation. The flange 7403 may have anysuitable width W for allowing, e.g., wheels of the rover to travel alongthe flange 7403. The face 7404 may also include integral rover positiondetermination features 7405. The integral rover position determinationfeatures 7405 may have any suitable shape and size such that the roverposition determination features 7405 are fatigue resistant. In oneaspect the integral rover position determination features 7405 may beapertures or protrusions formed in the face 7404 having a shape and sizefor minimizing stress concentrations in the face 7404. The integralrover position determination features 7405 are illustrated as having ageneral rectangular shape but in other aspects the integral roverposition determination features 7405 may have any suitable shape. In oneaspect the rover 110 may include any suitable sensors for detecting therover position determination features 7405 and determine its positionalong the picking aisle 130A based on at least the rover positiondetermination features 7405. In other aspects the position of the rover110 within the picking aisle may be determined in any suitable manner.One example of determining the position of the rover can be found inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/327,035 entitled “Bot PositionSensing” and filed on Dec. 15, 2011, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Referring now to FIG. 10 one or more structural components of theautomated storage and retrieval system 100 (such as the transfer deck130B, picking aisles 130A, lift modules 150, etc.) may have transportsections, upon which the rover 110 travels, with different flexure,static and dynamic properties such that one or more of the structuralcomponents reacts differently to, e.g., a seismic event or other event(generally referred to as a seismic event) that may cause movement ofitems within their respective storage locations. A compliant interface7500 between the structural components may allow for relative movementof the structural components during the seismic event. The compliantinterface 7500 may be self-aligning following the seismic event andprovide a riding surface over which the rover 110 can transition betweenthe transport sections of the different structural components. It isnoted that the compliant interface 7500 will be described with respectto a transition between the lift module 150 and transfer deck 130B butit should be understood that the interface described herein may beplaced at a transition between any two structural components of theautomated storage and retrieval system. For example, the compliantinterface 7500 may provide a transition between one or more of a pickingaisle 130A and the transfer deck 130B, between a picking aisle 130A anda lift module 150 (e.g. where the picking aisle provides substantiallydirect access to the lift module), and/or between any other suitablestructures of the automated storage and retrieval system 100.

In one aspect the lift modules 150 (a portion of which is shown in FIG.10 ) may be modular. For example, each lift module 150 may include avertical lift portion (not shown) and a rover interface portion 150Rwhich can be mated to, for example, the transfer deck 130B in anysuitable manner. In one aspect each lift module 150 may include verticalsupports 7510. The vertical lift portion (not shown) may be coupled tothe vertical supports 7510 in any suitable manner. Rover rails 7501,7501X may also be fixed to the vertical supports 7510 at verticalintervals corresponding to each storage level of the automated storageand retrieval system 100. Each of the rover rails 7501, 7501X may besubstantially similar to rover rails 7201 described above and includerover travel/riding and support surface 7501S, however one or more ofrover rails 7501, 7501X may include recessed or cut out portions 7501XRthat provide clearance for an end effector 110E of the rover 110 toextend for interfacing with a transfer shelf of the vertical liftportion for transporting items between storage levels or into/out of thestorage structure 130. The rover rails 7501, 7501X may be disposed onopposite lateral sides of a lift travel aisle 7150T and extendlongitudinally along a length of the lift travel aisle 7150T.

Also referring to FIG. 11 the rover rails 7501, 7501X may besubstantially rigidly fixed to the vertical supports 7510 in anysuitable manner. In one aspect the rover rails 7501, 7501X may beadjustably fixed to the vertical supports 7510 through adjustablemounting members 7600. The mounting member 7600 may allow three degreeof freedom adjustment of each respective rover rail 7501, 7501X. Inother aspects the mounting members 7600 may provide adjustment of therespective rover rail along any suitable number of linear and/orrotational axes. The mounting member 7600 may allow for alignment of therespective rover rail 7501, 7501X with the transfer deck 130B and/orother platforms on which the rover travels. Each direction of adjustmentof the mounting member 7600 may have a locking mechanism for fixing therespective direction and rigidly securing the rover rail 7501, 7501X to,for example, the vertical supports 7510.

In one aspect each mounting member 7600 includes a first support plate7601 that interfaces with, for example, vertical support 7510 in anysuitable manner for securing the first support plate 7601 to thevertical support member 7510. The first support plate 7601 may includeelongate mounting apertures 7620 through which fasteners may be insertedfor securing the first support plate 7601 to the vertical support 7510.The first support plate 7601 may be movable relative to, for example,the vertical support 7510 or other suitable feature of the automatedstorage and retrieval system 100, in the X direction. Locking members7601A may releasably engage the vertical support 7510 for substantiallypreventing movement of the first support plate 7601 in the X direction.A second support plate 7602 may also include elongate mounting apertures7621 and be movably mounted to the first support plate 7601 in anysuitable manner so that the second support plate 7602 is movablerelative to the first support plate 7601 (or other suitable feature ofthe automated storage and retrieval system 100) in the Z direction.Locking members 7602A may releasably engage the first support plate 7601for substantially preventing movement of the second support plate 7601in the Z direction. A third support plate 7603 may also include elongatemounting apertures 7622 and be movably mounted to the second supportplate 7602 in any suitable manner so that the third support plate 7603is movable relative to the second support plate 7602 (or other suitablefeature of the automated storage and retrieval system 100) in the Ydirection. Locking members 7603A may releasably engage the secondsupport plate 7602 for substantially preventing movement of the thirdsupport plate 7603 in the Y direction. It is noted that the X, Y and Zaxes are used for explanatory purposes only and that each of the first,second and third support plates 7601, 7602, 7603 may be movable alongany suitable respective axis in any suitable reference frame.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 12-15 , the rover travel/riding surfaces ofthe automated storage and retrieval system (e.g. such as surfaces 7501S,7403S of the rover rails 7201 and the surface of the transfer deck 130B)may be isolated from one another with one or more intermediate orcompliant isolation plates 7700 that are robust and long lasting. Theseisolation plates 7700 are also shown in FIG. 10 between each lift module150 rail 7501, 7501X and the transfer deck 130B (only a portion of whichis shown in the Figs.) for isolating the rails 7501, 7501X from thetransfer deck 130B. The isolation plates may also provide the complaintinterface 7500, which is formed of a jointed or articulated connectionthat is released to provide at least one degree of freedom of movementbetween, e.g., the transfer deck 130B and lift module 150 rails 7501,7501X as will be described below. The compliant interface 7500 maysubstantially prevent chafing between automated storage and retrievalsystem structural elements. While the isolation plates 7700 are shown asbeing located at the interface between the rails 7501, 7501X and thetransfer deck 130B it should be understood, however, that theseisolation plates 7700 may be located at any structural joint between anytwo adjacent rover transport surfaces. The joint elements (which will bedescribed below) of the compliant interface 500 form a substantiallycontinuous and smooth surface upon which the rover 110 travels betweenthe different portions of the automated storage and retrieval system100.

As can be seen in FIGS. 12-15 in one aspect the isolation plates 7700may include more than one isolation plate 7700 such that each interface7500 at, e.g. the rails rail 7501, 7501X has a respective isolationplate 7700. In other aspects the isolation plates may be a single, onepiece plate 7800 such that each interface 7500 at the rails 7501, 7501Xhas a common isolation plate 7800. The isolation plates 7700, 7800 maybe constructed of any suitable material and have any suitableconfiguration. In one aspect the isolation plates 7700, 7800 and therails 7501, 7501X may each include fingers 7700F, 7501F that interleavewith each other or other suitable structure, such as flexible membranesand/or slip plates, that allow for movement between the plates 7700,7800 and rails 7501, 7501X and are configured to provide or otherwiseinclude a riding surface for a rover 110 passing over the compliantjoint 7500. In one aspect as can be seen in FIG. 15 the fingers of theisolation plates 7700, 7800 may include tapered sides 7700A1, 7700A2and/or a tapered end 7700E or any other suitable alignment features toassist in the recovery of the compliant joint 7500 after a seismic eventor other movement of the automated storage and retrieval systemstructure. As may be realized the fingers 7501F of the rails 7501, 7501Xmay be tapered in a complimentary manner to that of the fingers 7700F toalso assist in the recovery of the compliant joint 7500 after a seismicevent or other movement of the automated storage and retrieval systemstructure.

Referring also to FIGS. 16A-16C, the isolation plates 7700, 7800 may besubstantially stiff members that are coupled to the transport deck 130B(or other suitable member within the automated storage and retrievalsystem such as any rover transport surface or isolation plate supportmembers or bars 7130M) to allow for at least one degree of freedom ofmovement between the transport deck 130B and, for example, rover rails7501, 7501X (or other rover transport/riding surface). In one aspect theisolation plates 7700, 7800 may be mounted to provide three or moredegrees of freedom of movement (e.g. X, Y, Z and/or rotation about oneor more of the X, Y and X axes). The isolation plates 7700, 7800 may bemounted in any suitable manner that allows compliant movement of theisolation plate 7700, 7800. In one aspect a ball type joint (as will bedescribed below) or any other suitable articulated joint may be used tomount the isolation plate 7700, 7800 to any suitable support surface.For example, the transfer deck 130B (or any other suitable structuralelement of the automated storage and retrieval system) may include aslot or other aperture, as will be described below, in which a ball isdisposed and the isolation plate may be mounted to the ball (e.g. so aball and socket joint is formed).

The isolation plates 7700 (isolation plate 7800 may be mounted andfunction in a manner substantially similar to that described herein forisolation plates 7700) may be mounted to, for example, any suitableportion of the transfer deck 130B such as support member 7130M in anysuitable manner. In one aspect the isolation plate 7700 may be mountedto the support member 7130M with a ball joint or otherwise articulatedconnection that allows pivotal movement of the isolation plate as willbe described in greater detail below. Each isolation plate 7700 mayinclude apertures 711001 through which any suitable fasteners 711002 areinserted. The support member 7130M may include elongated apertures711000A, 711000B through which the fasteners 711002 pass such that theisolation plate is disposed on a first or upper side of the supportmember 7130M. A ball member 711003 may be placed over the fastener froma second or bottom side of the support member 130M so that the ballmember 711003 is located within a respective aperture 711000A, 711000B.The ball member 711003 may have any suitable diameter that allowspivoting movement within and linear movement of the ball member 711003along a length of the aperture 711000A, 711000B. A bushing or spacermember 711004 may be inserted within the ball member 711003 tosubstantially prevent contact between the fastener 711002 and the ballmember 711003 and to substantially prevent deformation of the ball whena retaining member 711006 is affixed to the fastener for retaining theball member 711003 within the aperture 711000A, 711000B. In one aspectthe fastener 711002 is a screw and the retaining member 711006 is a nutbut in other aspects any suitable elongated member and retaining membersmay be used such as, for example rods and clips, snaps and/or pins. Awasher or other substantially flat or obstructive member 711005 may beplaced between the retaining member 711006 and the ball member 711003.The obstructive member 711005 may have a diameter or may otherwise belarger than a width of the aperture 711000A, 711000B so as tosubstantially prevent the ball member 711003 and retaining member 711006from passing through the aperture 711000A, 711000B such that theisolation plate 7700 is restrained from being lifted from the supportmember 7130M. In other aspects the retaining member 711006 may beconfigured to both retain the ball member 711003 on the fastener 711002and substantially prevent the lifting of the isolation plate 7700 fromthe support member 7130M. As can be seen in FIG. 16B the aperture711000A, 711000B may include a recess on the second side of the supportmember 7130M into which the retaining member 711006 and obstructivemember 711005 are disposed. In other aspects the aperture 711000A,711000B may not include a recess.

Referring now to FIGS. 16C, 17A and 17B the interleaved fingers 7700F,7501F (FIG. 14 ) may substantially prevent movement of the isolationplate 7700 in, for example, the X direction while allowing relativemovement of the isolation plate 7700 and the rails 7501, 7501X in the Ydirection. The elongated apertures 711000A, 711000B, however, may allowmovement of the isolation plate 7700 relative to, for example, thesupport member 7130M and transfer deck 130B in the X direction but maynot allow relative movement between the isolation plate 7700 and thetransfer deck 130B/support member 7130M in the Y direction. For example,the ball member, as noted above, may move along the length of the slotallowing the isolation member to move relative to the support member7130M and transfer deck 130B. In other aspects the isolation plate 7700may be mounted such that linear movement within the slot is fixed (e.g.the isolation plate substantially does not move along a length of theslot). As such, the combination of the interleaved fingers 7700F, 7501Fand the elongated apertures 711000A, 711000B/ball joint provide relativemovement between the transfer deck 130B and the rails 7501, 7501X in atleast both the X and Y directions.

Further degrees of freedom of movement are provided by the ball jointsuch that the isolation member 7700 is allowed to pivot about the ballmember 711003 within the elongated aperture 711000A, 711000B (generallyreferred to as elongated apertures 711000). Referring to FIGS. 17A and17B relative movement between, for example, the transfer deck 130B andthe lift module 150 rover transport/riding surfaces in the Z directionmay cause pivoting movement of the isolation member 7700 about the balljoint in the direction of arrow 712000. For example, as noted above, theball member 711003 may allow the isolation member 7700 to pivot relativeto the support member 7130M (and the transfer deck 130B). As thetransfer deck 130B and the lift module 150 rover transport/ridingsurfaces move relative to one another in the Z direction so that theriding surface 7501S of the rover rails 7501, 7501X (FIG. 10 ) islocated above the transfer deck riding surface, the isolation plate 7700contacts the fingers 7501F causing the isolation member fingers 7700F(and the isolation plate as a whole) to pivot upwards as shown in FIG.17A. As the transfer deck 130B and the lift module 150 rovertransport/riding surfaces move relative to one another in the Zdirection so that the riding surface 7501S of the rover rails 7501,7501X (FIG. 10 ) is located below the transfer deck riding surface,e.g., the cantilevered weight of the isolation plate 7700 causes theisolation plate to pivot downwards as shown in FIG. 17B. It is notedthat the ball joint between the isolation member 7700 and the supportmember 7130M may also allow for substantially pure Z axis motion where aspace SPC is provided between the obstructive member 711005 and asurface 711000S of the elongated aperture 711000. It is noted that asupport member 712030 may be fixed to the rails 7501, 7501X below thefingers 7501F to at least substantially prevent flexure (e.g. incombination with the interleaved fingers) of one or more of the fingers7501F and isolation plate 7700 as the rover 110 travels over the roverriding surface formed by the compliant interface. In other aspects therails 7501, 7501X may not include the support member 712030.

Referring to FIG. 18 one or more lead-ins or guides 713000A, 713000B maybe fixed to the lift module 150 rails 7501, 7501X at a proximate end ofthe guides 713000A, 713000B in any suitable manner for guiding the rover110 into the lift module 150. The guides 713000A, 713000B may form afunnel like passage, the width of which is narrower at the rails 7501,7501X than at the mouth of the passage (e.g. at the distal ends of theguides 713000A, 713000B). In one aspect each of the guides 713000A,713000B may have a single, one piece or unitary construction while inother aspects each guide may be constructed of multiple pieces that arefixed to one another in any suitable manner such as welding or throughmechanical or chemical fasteners. The guides may be positioned above therover transport/riding surface of the transfer deck 130B so that theguides 713000A, 713000B are able to move with the lift module rails7501, 7501X relative to the transfer deck 130B substantially free fromcontact with the transfer deck 130B.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 12 and 19A-19C the lift module 150 may includea rover charging station 714000 fixed to the rails 7501, 7501X and/orvertical supports/columns 7510 of the lift module so that the chargingstation 714000 moves with the lift module 150 during, for example, aseismic event. In other aspects the charging station 714000 may bedisposed at any suitable location within the automated storage andretrieval system. Suitable examples of rover charging stations aredescribed below and also can be found in, for example, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/326,823 entitled “Autonomous Transport VehicleCharging System” filed on Dec. 15, 2011 and U.S. provisional patentapplication No. 61/798,282 entitled “Rover Charger System” filed on Mar.15, 2013 (now U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/209,086 filed on Mar.13, 2014 having attorney docket number 1127P014911-US (PAR) and U.S.provisional patent application No. 61/780,363 entitled “AutomatedStorage and Retrieval System Structure” filed on Mar. 13, 2013 (now U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/209,209 filed on Mar. 13, 2014 havingattorney docket number 1127P014870-US (PAR)), the disclosures of whichare incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. The chargingstation 714000 may include a contact or charging pad 714000P thatincludes compliant contacts 714001A, 714001B (generally referred to ascompliant contacts 714001). The compliant contacts 714001A, 714001B mayinterface with rover charging contacts 714003A, 714003B (generallyreferred to as rover charging contacts 714003) for charging the rover110. As may be realized, the rovers 110 rest on the lift module 150rails 7501, 7501X and may move during, e.g., a seismic event. Thecompliant contacts 714001A, 714001B of the charging station 714000 maybe configured to remain in contact with the rover charging contacts714003A, 714003B during movement of the rover 110 relative to thecharging station 714000. As can be seen in FIGS. 19A and 19B, eachcompliant contact 714001 may be disposed at least partly within a recessof the charging pad 714000P. The compliant contact 714001 may include acontact portion 714010 and a shaft portion 714011 connected to thecontact portion 714010. The shaft portion 714011 may be pivotallymounted to the charging pad 714000P in any suitable manner so that thecontact portion 714010 moves in the direction of arrow 714020. Aresilient or biasing member 714012 is disposed between a surface 714000Sof the charging pad 714000P and, for example, the contact portion 714010(or any other suitable portion of the compliant contact 714001) forbiasing the contact portion away from the surface 714000S. As the rover110 drives onto the charging station 714000 the rover charging contact714003 pushes the contact portion 714010 of the compliant contact 714001towards the surface 714000S such that the biasing member 714012 pushesthe contact portion 714010 against the rover charging contact 714003.The distance through which the contact portion 714010 is pushed is suchthat the upward travel of the contact portion 714010 is sufficient toallow the contact portion 714010 to remain in contact with the rovercharging contact 714003 during movement of the rover 110 relative to therails 7501, 7501X during a seismic event. As can be seen in FIGS. 19Aand 19B the rover charging contacts 714003, 714003′ may have anysuitable shape and/or configuration to allow for nonbinding contact asthe rover charging contact 714003, 714003′ interfaces with the compliantcontact 714001.

Referring again to FIG. 1 , the autonomous rovers 110 may requirecharging, for example, before being placed into service, duringoperations, and/or after an extended idle time. According to an aspectof the disclosed embodiment, the storage and retrieval system 100includes a charging system 130C for charging power sources (see e.g.power sources 8482, 8522, 8622, 8722 in FIGS. 22A and 23-25 ) ofautonomous rovers 110, 8416, 8516, 8616, 8716 at any suitable time.Charging facilities may be located at any suitable location in thestorage and retrieval system 100 such as, for example, at one or more ofthe input and output vertical lifts 150A, 150B, the levels of storagerack modules, the storage or picking aisles 130A, the transfer decks130B, or at any point where material is transferred to and from theautonomous rovers 110 or any other suitable location of the storage andretrieval system 100 where an autonomous rover may be located.

FIG. 20 shows an exemplary block diagram of a charging system 8200according to aspects of the disclosed embodiment. The charging system8200 may be substantially similar to charging system 130C. The chargingsystem 8200 generally includes an alternating current (AC) distributionsystem 8210, at least one charging supply 8220, and charging locations8230.

The AC distribution system 8210 may provide alternating current to oneor more charging supplies 8220 and may be capable of supplying enoughpower to enable all charging supplies 8220 in the charging system 8200to operate at full power simultaneously. The AC distribution system 8210may include a main disconnect switch 8212 and AC overload and shortcircuit protection circuitry 8214. An individual AC overload and shortcircuit protection circuit may be provided for each charging supply 8220to furnish fault isolation such that a failed charging supply will notaffect operation of other charging supplies. The alternating current maybe supplied at any suitable amperage or voltage level. For example, thecurrent may be supplied at 480, 400, 240, 230, 220, or 208 volts, 50 or60 Hz, in a three phase delta or Y configuration, at any appropriateamperage. While FIG. 20 shows a delta configuration and a four wire L1,L2, L3, protective earth (PE) connection, it should be understood thatthe aspects of the disclosed embodiments may utilize any suitableconfiguration such as, for example, a Y configuration with a neutralwire L1, L2, L3, N, PE connection. The alternating current may also besupplied to any suitable location within the storage and retrievalsystem 100.

The at least one charging supply 8220 may include a communications port8222, one or more charging modules 8224, 8226, and at least one set ofcontactors 8228A, 8228B. The communications port 222 may generallyprovide communications between the control server 120 (FIG. 1 ) and thecharging supply 8220 through any suitable network, such as network 180,for enabling in service programming, control, and monitoring of thecharging modules 8224, 8226 and contactors 8228A, 8228B. Thecommunications port 8222 may operate to report any suitable informationrelated to the charging modules 8224, 8226 such as, for example, analarm state, enabled or disabled status, status of contactors 8228A,8228B, temperature, output current or voltage, voltage or currentlimits, and/or software version.

The communications port 8222 may operate to receive commands such as,for example, commands to enable and disable charging module output,switch charging module output among constant current, constant voltage,or constant power, change current and voltage limits, update softwareand calibration data, and/or open or close contactors 8228A, 8228B. Thecommunications port 8222 may also be enabled to report failures of thecharging modules 8224, 8226, for example, under voltage, over voltage,over current, over temperature, and no response.

The communications port 8222 may be wired and/or wireless and may useany suitable communication technology or protocol. According to anaspect of the disclosed embodiment, the communications port 8222 may bea network enabled power supply manager having an Internet Protocol (IP)address on the network 180 (FIG. 1 ) and having a dedicated bus forcommunication with charging modules 8224, 8226.

While charging modules 8224, 8226 are capable of operating alone, twocharging modules may be grouped together in charging supply 8220 toproduce a combined output. The combined outputs of charging modules8224, 8226, may be used to deliver power to one or more charginglocations 8230. As may be realized, while two charging locations 8230are illustrated in FIG. 20 with respect to charging modules 8224, 8226it should be understood that any suitable number of charging modules8224, 8226 may be connected to power modules 8224, 8226 in any suitablemanner. As may also be realized, each charging supply 8220 may have anysuitable number of charging modules 8224, 8226, 8224A, 8226A which maybe combined to produce a combined output. For example, in one aspectcharging modules 8224, 8226 may have a combined output and chargingmodules 8224A, 8226A may have a combined output. In other aspectscharging modules 8224, 8226, 8224A, 8226A may have a combined outputwhile in still other aspects any two or more of the charging modules8224, 8226, 8224A, 8226A may be combined in any suitable manner toprovide a combined output. Each charging location 8230 may have adedicated contactor 8228A, 8228B. Charging modules 8224, 8226 (and theother charging modules described herein), may be configured such thatupon failure of one charging module 8224, 8226, the other chargingmodule 8224, 8226 may be capable of delivering current to the one ormore charging locations 8230. According to some aspects, the remainingcharging module 8224, 8226 may deliver a reduced amount of current tothe charging locations 8230. In one aspect, the charging supply 8220(and the other charging supplies described herein) may be controlled inany suitable manner such that power output by the charging supply 8220may be allocated to respective charging locations 8230 depending on alevel of charge of the autonomous rovers 110 engaged at each charginglocation. For example, also referring to FIGS. 31 and 32 charginglocations 8230A, 8230B, 8230C may be connected to charging supply 8220and a rover 110A, 110B, 110C may be provided or otherwise located at arespective charging location 8230A, 8230B, 8230C (FIG. 32 , Block81400). For exemplary purposes only, rover 110A may have the lowestcharge level of the rovers 110A, 110B, 110C. Rover 110C may have thehighest charge level and rover 110B may have a charge level between thecharge levels of rovers 110A and 110C. In one aspect all or most (or anyother suitable portion of) the power output from the charging supply8220 may be allocated to an autonomous rover having the least amount ofcharge (e.g. such as rover 110A) (FIG. 32 , Block 81401) up to the pointwhere the charge of that autonomous rover 110A is substantially equal toa charge of another of the autonomous rovers (e.g. such as rover 110Bhaving the next least amount of charge) at one of the respectivecharging locations (FIG. 32 , Block 81402). Once the charge level ofrover 110A is substantially the same as the charge level of rover 110B,autonomous rovers 110A and 110B may receive all or most (or any othersuitable portion of) the power output from charging supply 8220 (FIG. 32, Block 81401) until their charge is substantially equal to a charge ofanother autonomous rover (e.g. having the next least amount of chargesuch as rover 110C) at one of the respective charging locations (FIG. 32, Block 81402) and so on (e.g. continue with loop of FIG. 32 , Blocks81401, 81402) until the charging of the rovers is complete (FIG. 32 ,Block 81403). If all the rovers 110A, 110B, 110C at the charginglocations 8230A, 8230B, 8230C are substantially the same (e.g. havesubstantially the same level of charge) the power supply 8220 may directpower to each of the rovers 110A, 110B, 110C until charging is complete(FIG. 32 , Block 81403) or until some other predetermined criteria ismet (e.g. a predetermined charge percentage of the rover, a command fora rover to leave the charging location, or any other suitable criteria).

Each charging module 8224, 8226 (and the other charging modulesdescribed herein) may be “hot pluggable” meaning that each chargingmodule 8224, 8226 may be replaceable without power cycling the chargingmodule 8224, 8226 being replaced and/or without power cycling thecharging supply in which the charging module 8224, 8226 is located. The“hot pluggable” replacement of the charging module 8224, 8226 may bedone without affecting the operation of any other charging modules andwhile the charging locations 8230 are active. Each charging module 8224,8226 may be capable of switching between a constant current, constantvoltage, or constant power output mode. In one aspect switching betweendifferent output modes may be controlled in any suitable manner such asby commands received from communications port 8222. In another aspectswitching between different output modes may be affected automaticallyby the charging module. In still other aspects switching betweendifferent output modes may be controlled by a rover 110 and/or thecontrol server 120.

The charging system 8200 may include any number of charging supplies8220. A charging supply 8220 may include any number of charging modules8224, 8226 and may be capable of supplying any number of charginglocations 8230 on any number of storage levels. For example, a chargingsupply 8220 may include two charging modules 8224, 8226 and may providepower to four charging locations 8230 where two charging locations aredisposed on each of two levels served by a vertical lift 150A or 150B.For example, referring to FIG. 20 , charging locations 8230A, 8230B maybe located on level 130L1 of the storage structure 130 while charginglocations 8230B, 8230C may be located on level 130L2 of the storagestructure 130.

The charging modules 8224, 8226 may be configured with outputs that areenabled when an autonomous rover 110 both accesses and de-accessescharging contacts 8816, 8818 (which may be substantially similar tothose described herein) of a charging pad 8810 (FIG. 26A) located at arespective charging location 8230 (e.g. where the charging contacts8816, 8188 are connected to the charging modules 8224, 8226) to maximizea charging duty cycle and minimize charging delays. The charging supply8220 may have several different operating modes including, for example,an operating mode where all contactors 8228A, 8228B are disabled, anoperating mode where all contactors 8228A, 8228B are enabled, and/or anoperating mode where a single or more than one contactor 8228A, 8228B isdisabled. Upon power up, the charging supply 8220 may initialize withcontactors 8228A, 8228B disabled and open. The communication port 8222may enable the contactors 8228A, 8228B after receiving a command from acharging system health monitoring function system software, or forexample, control server 120. Each contactor 8228A, 8228B may have anauxiliary contact 8229A, 8229B, respectively which may be monitored todetermine the state of the respective contactor 8228A, 8228B. Duringnormal operations, the contactors 8228A, 8228B may be closed, energizingthe charging pads 8810 at the charging locations 8230. The closed stateof the contactors 8228A, 8228B may be verified by monitoring theauxiliary contacts 8229A, 8229B. For maintenance access, a singlecontactor, e.g. 8228A or 8228B may be disabled so that no current flowsthrough the associated charging location 8230. This may be verified inany suitable manner such as by monitoring auxiliary contact 8229A,8229B. As may be realized, and as noted above, each charging supply mayhave any suitable number of contactors 8228A, 8228B connected to anysuitable number of charging locations 8230 such that any one or more ofthe contactors 8228A, 8228B may be disabled for providing maintenanceaccess to any suitable number of charging locations 8230.

According to some aspects, charging modules 8224, 8226 may be configuredto charge any suitable power source, such as power sources 8482, 8522,8622, 8722 (FIGS. 22A and 23-25 ) disposed on an autonomous roverincluding a battery pack and/or a capacitor based power source such as,for example, an ultracapacitor bank including one or moreultracapacitors. It is noted that the power sources 8482, 8522, 8622,8722 are illustrated as ultracapacitors but in other aspects the powersources may be any suitable power sources.

FIG. 21 shows a schematic illustration of an exemplary charging station8300 in accordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment. Thecharging station 8300 may be disposed at any suitable location of thestorage and retrieval system 100. In one aspect the charging station8300 may include an internal power supply 8305, a communications port8310, two charging supplies 8315, 8320, and four contactors 8332, 8334,8336, 8338, each providing charging facilities to charging pads 8810(FIG. 26A) disposed at charging locations which may be located atdifferent levels 8352, 8354, 8356, 8358, respectively, of the storagestructure 130. In other aspects the charging station 8300 may have anysuitable configuration.

In this exemplary aspect, communications port 8310 may be implemented asa dual Ethernet gateway (e.g. having two Ethernet gateways 8340, 8342)with at least one power supply management bus 8344, 8346 capable ofcontrolling one or more charging modules 8360, 8362, 8364, 8366. EachEthernet gateway 8340, 8342 may have any suitable configuration andinclude a media access control (MAC) address chip and an assigned IPaddress on network 180 (FIG. 1 ). As a result, each charging supply8315, 8320 may have an Ethernet address or be identified on network 180in any suitable manner. In one aspect there may be two power supplymanagement busses 8344, 8346 (in other aspects any suitable number ofpower supply management busses may be provided) that may conform, forexample, to the Power Management Bus (PMBus) standard. Each power supplymanagement bus 8344, 8346 may control any suitable number of chargingmodules 8360, 8362, 8364, 8366. In this example, power supply managementbus 8344 may be connected to charging modules 8360, 8362 and powersupply management bus 8346 may be connected to charging modules 8364,8366.

Each charging supply 8315, 8320 may be substantially similar to thatdescribed above and include one or more charging modules 8360, 8362,8364, 8366, grouped together, for example, in pairs, with each pairproviding a shared output. In other aspects the one or more chargingmodules may be grouped together in any suitable manner. Each chargingmodule 8360, 8362, 8364, 8366 may be hot pluggable as described above,and may be capable of switching between a constant current, constantvoltage, or constant power output mode, as described above and ascontrolled by commands from communications port 8310, affectedautomatically by each charging module, controlled by a rover 110, orcontrolled by the control server 120.

FIG. 22A is a schematic illustration of an exemplary implementation of acharging system 8400 for charging the rover power source 8482 inaccordance with aspects of the disclosed embodiment. Charging system8400 includes an AC distribution system 8210, one or more chargingstations 8410, an intermediate DC bus 8412, and a charging interface8414 connected to a charging pad 8450 with contacts 8816, 8818 (similarto charging pad 8810 in FIG. 26A) that interface with an autonomousrover 8416 (which may be substantially similar to rover 110 describedabove). The charging interface 8414 may include, for example, a floormounted charging pad 8450 with charging contacts 8816, 8818 (FIG. 26A)and a rover mounted charging pad 8452 (similar to charging pad 8820 inFIG. 26A). The charging pads 8450, 8452 may interface or engage eachother in any suitable manner such as that described below with respectto FIGS. 26A and 26B. In some aspects, the voltage present on theintermediate DC bus 8412, and hence the voltage present on the chargingcontacts 8816, 8818, may be considered extra low voltage and may requireless protection, or in some aspects, no protection, against electricalshock.

Charging stations 8410 may include any suitable number of chargingmodules 8440, 8442 (which may be substantially similar to those chargingmodules described above), generally configured in groups of two (or ingroups of any suitable number of charging modules) with combined outputsfor delivering charging power to one or more autonomous rovers 8416. Agroup of any number of charging modules with combined outputs fordelivering power may be referred to as a charging supply (see e.g.charging supplies 8220, 8315, 8320 described above).

The rover 8416 may include what may be referred to as “hot swap”circuitry 8418 or other suitable protection circuitry configured toallow the rover 8416 to connect to an energized or otherwise enabledcharging pad 8450 (e.g. “hot swap” refers to the autonomous rover'sability to make and break contact, such as contact between the chargingpad contacts 8816, 8818 and the rover charging contacts 8826, 8828 ofcharging interface 8414, while the charging pads 8450 are energized—seeFIGS. 26A and 26B). As shown in FIG. 22B, the hot swap circuitry 8418may include current inrush limitation circuitry 8422, reversalprotection circuitry 8424, and charging control circuitry 8426. Thecurrent inrush limitation, charging control, and reversal protectioncircuitry may be implemented in any suitable manner such as, forexample, under control of an autonomous rover controller 8420. Thereversal protection circuitry 8424 may also be implemented, for example,using one or more Field Effect Transistors (FET's) or in any othersuitable manner. The autonomous rover controller 8420 may providecommands to the hot swap circuitry 8418, for example, to set currentinrush limits and/or enable or disable rover charging. As a result,whether charging of the rover is on or off is controlled locally on therover 8416 so that no control loop with the charging station 8410 or thecontrol server 120 is required (e.g. enabling or disabling charging of arover is controlled by the rover 8416 independent of the chargingstation 8410 and control server 120).

As shown in FIG. 22C, the autonomous rover controller 8420 may include aprocessor 8430, a memory 8432, and a communications interface 8434. Thecommunications interface 8434 may generally provide communicationsbetween the control server 120 (FIG. 1 ) and the autonomous rover 8416at least for controlling rover operations, providing information aboutcharging supplies and charging modules, and/or controlling chargingsupply and charging module operations.

It should be noted that each charging module 8440, 8442 in chargingsystem 8400 may be configured to switch between a constant current,constant voltage, and/or constant power output mode in a mannersubstantially similar to that described above. As also noted above, inone aspect switching between different output modes may be controlled inany suitable manner such as by commands received from communicationsport 8222. In another aspect switching between different output modesmay be affected automatically by the charging module. In still otheraspects switching between different output modes may be controlled by arover 110 and/or the control server 120.

It should also be noted that the autonomous rover 110, 8416 entry to acharging location 8230 that, for example includes, charging interface8414, is decoupled or independent from a status of the charging station8410, a status of the charging location and/or a status of the charginginterface 8414. The autonomous rover controller 8420 may control the hotswap circuitry 8418 and the output of charging station 8410 to effectcharging of the autonomous rover power source, regardless or otherwiseindependent of the charging station 8410 status, charging location 8230status or charging interface 8414 status before and/or after contact ismade (e.g. when the rover 110, 8416 accesses and de-accesses thecharging interface 8414) between charging contacts 8816, 8818 (FIG. 26A)of the rover 110, 8416 and charging contacts 8826, 8828 (FIG. 26B) ofthe charging interface 8414. In at least one aspect of the disclosedembodiment, an output of a charging supply, such as charging supply8220, 8315, 8320, is enabled when the rover 110, 8416 accesses andde-accesses the charging contacts 8826, 8828 of the charging pad 8450 ofthe charging interface 8414. The autonomous rover controller 8420 mayalso control the output of charging station 8410 to change a state ofthe charging interface 8414 between safe and unsafe (e.g. un-energizedand energized, respectively) to effect a hot swap entry and departure ofthe autonomous rover 110, 8416 with respect to a charging location 8230.

As mentioned above, charging locations 8230 may be located at anysuitable location in the storage and retrieval system 100 where materialis transferred to and from the autonomous rover 110 or at any othersuitable location at which the autonomous rover 110 may be disposed. Itshould be understood that autonomous rover charging may be accomplishedwhile an autonomous rover 110 is transferring material to and from theautonomous rover 110. It should also be understood that the rover entryto a material transfer location, such as at lift 150A, 150B location, ina picking aisle or any other suitable transfer location, withsimultaneous charging under rover control is independent ofcommunication between the control server 120 and the rover communicationinterface 8434 (e.g. independent of the control server commands). Itshould further be understood that an autonomous rover 110 does not needclearance from the control server 120 or any other system component toeffect a charging operation, or for entry onto a charging pad, as longas entry to the charging pad is not blocked, for example, by anotherrover.

FIG. 23 shows a schematic illustration of another exemplaryimplementation of a charging system 8500 in accordance with aspects ofthe disclosed embodiment. Charging system 8500 includes AC distributionsystem 8210, at least one DC power supply 8510, an intermediate DC bus8512, and at least one charging interface 8514 (substantially similar tothat described above) with a charging pad 8550 (that is substantiallysimilar to charging pad 8450 described above) having contacts 8816, 8818(FIG. 26A) that interface with an autonomous rover 8516 (that issubstantially similar to rovers 110, 8416 described above). The charginginterface 8514 may include, for example, the floor mounted charging pad8550 and a rover mounted charging pad 8552 (substantially similar torover mounted charging pad 8452 described above).

According to some aspects, the autonomous rover 8516 may include hotswap circuitry 8518 (substantially similar to that described above) anda charging supply 8520 for charging a power source 8522. According toother aspects, the voltage present on the intermediate DC bus 8512 maybe considered high voltage and all components used in the intermediateDC bus and connected to the voltage of the DC bus, or components thatmay be connected to the DC bus voltage in a single fault case, must bemade finger safe, for example, protected against finger contact or solidforeign bodies, typically using an insulating barrier having an openingof 12 mm or less. In some aspects this may include the charging pads8550 where the charging pads are configured in any suitable manner to befinger safe.

The hot swap circuitry 8518 may include current inrush limitationcircuitry 8524, reversal protection circuitry 8526, and charging controlcircuitry 8528, similar to hot swap circuitry 8418 (FIG. 22 ). The hotswap circuitry 8518 may be under control of the autonomous rovercontroller 8530. According to some aspects, the autonomous rover 8516includes a rover charging supply 8520. The rover charging supply 8520may be similar to charging supply 8220, and may be capable of switchingbetween a constant current, constant voltage, or constant power outputmode. Switching of the charging supply 8520 between different outputmodes may be controlled by commands received from the autonomous rovercontroller 8530, may be affected automatically by the rover chargingsupply 8520, and/or may be controlled by the control server 120. In atleast one aspect of the disclosed embodiment, an output of the chargingsupply 8520 is enabled when the rover accesses and de-accesses thecharging contacts in a manner substantially similar to that describedabove.

FIG. 24 shows a schematic illustration of another exemplaryimplementation of a charging system 8600 in accordance with aspects ofthe disclosed embodiment. Charging system 8600 includes AC distributionsystem 8210, an intermediate AC bus 8612, and at least one charginginterface 8614 (that may be substantially similar to those describedabove) with a charging pad 8650 (substantially similar to that describedabove) having any suitable number of contacts substantially similar tocontacts 8816, 8818 (FIG. 26A) that interface with an autonomous rover8616 (which may be substantially similar to those described above). Thecharging interface 8614 may include, for example, the floor mountedcharging pad 8650 and a rover mounted charging pad 8652 (substantiallysimilar to the rover mounted charging pads described above). Similar tothe aspects shown in FIG. 23 , the voltage present on the intermediateAC bus 8612 may be considered high voltage and all components used inthe intermediate AC bus and connected to the voltage of the AC bus, orcomponents that may be connected to the AC bus voltage in a single faultcase, must be made finger safe.

According to some aspects, the number of contacts in charging interface8614 may be determined by the type of AC power provided by theintermediate AC bus 8612. For example, a delta configuration with fourwire L1, L2, L3, and PE connections may have three contacts as shown inFIG. 24 , or a Y configuration with neutral wire L1, L2, L3, N, and PEconnections may have four contacts.

According to other aspects, the autonomous rover 8616 may includerectifier and hot swap circuitry 8618 and a charging supply 8620 forcharging a power source 8622. The rectifier and hot swap circuitry 8618may include circuitry 8624 for rectification of power received from theintermediate AC bus 8612, current inrush limitation circuitry 8626,reversal protection circuitry 8628, and charging control circuitry 8630.

The rectifier and hot swap circuitry 8618 may operate under control ofthe autonomous rover controller 8632 or in any other suitable manner.Similar to the aspects shown in FIG. 23 , the autonomous rover 8616includes a rover charging supply 8620 (that may be substantially similarto those described above), which may be capable of switching between aconstant current, constant voltage, and/or constant power output mode ascontrolled by the autonomous rover controller 8632 and/or the controlserver 120. In at least one aspect of the disclosed embodiment, anoutput of the charging supply 8620 is enabled when the rover accessesand de-accesses the charging contacts of the charging pad 8650 in amanner substantially similar to that described above.

Another exemplary implementation of a charging system 8700 in accordancewith aspects of the disclosed embodiment is shown in FIG. 25 . Thisexemplary charging system 8700 includes AC distribution system 8210, atleast one DC power supply 8710, an intermediate DC bus 8712, hot swapcircuitry 8714, and at least one charging interface 8718 (that may besubstantially similar to those described above) with a charging pad 8750having contacts 8816, 8818 (FIG. 26A) that interface with an autonomousrover 8716 (which may be substantially similar to those describedabove). The charging interface 8718 may include, for example, the floormounted charging pad 8750 and a rover mounted charging pad 8752 (thatmay be substantially similar to those described above).

The DC power supply 8710 may be substantially similar to those describedabove and may be capable of switching between a constant current,constant voltage, and/or constant power output mode in a manner similarto that described above. In a manner similar to that described above,switching between different output modes may be affected automatically,may be controlled by commands received from a controller of theautonomous rover 8716, and/or may be controlled by the control server120. In some aspects of the disclosed embodiment, an output of the DCpower supply 8710 is enabled when the rover 8716 accesses andde-accesses the charging contacts of the charging pad 8750 in a mannersubstantially similar to that described above.

According to some aspects, the voltage present on the intermediate DCbus 8712 may be considered high voltage and all components used in theintermediate DC bus and connected to the voltage of the DC bus, orcomponents that may be connected to the DC bus voltage in a single faultcase, must be made finger safe. In other aspects, the voltage present onthe intermediate DC bus 8712 may be considered extra low voltage and mayrequire less protection against shock.

Exemplary aspects of components of the charging interface 8414, 8514,8614, 8718 are shown in FIGS. 26A and 26B. FIG. 26A shows an example ofa floor mounted charging pad 8810. The floor mounted charging pad 8810may include a base 8812 which may be mounted on a floor of the storagestructure 130 or wherever a charging location 8230 may be located. Amovable cover 8814 may be provided which may be biased in the directionof arrow 8899A in a closed position, such that the movable cover 8814 isdisposed over the contacts 8816, 8818 of the charging pad 8810. In otheraspects, a cover may not be provided on the charging pad 8810. Accordingto some aspects, contact 8816, which may be connected to a negative DCvoltage of a respective power supply, may have a longer length thancontact 8818, which may be connected to a positive DC voltage of arespective power supply, in order to facilitate the negative contact 816being engaged both first and last as the rover drives on and off thecharging pad 8810. An exemplary rover mounted charging pad 8820 is shownin FIG. 26B. The rover mounted charging pad 8820 may include rovercharging contacts 8826, 8828 mounted, for example, on an underside 8830of the rover mounted charging pad 8820. The rover mounted charging pad8820 may be mounted, for example, to an underside of an autonomous roverfor establishing a mating relationship with the floor mounted chargingpad 8810. In some aspects, the rover mounted charging pad 8820 may bemounted with a cover pusher 8822 or other suitable member for moving thecover 8814 in the direction 8899B as the rover moves relative to thefloor mounted charging pad 8810 to expose contacts 8816, 8818 of thefloor mounted charging pad 8810 for effecting an electrical connectionbetween the charging pads 8810, 8820. In other aspects, a cover pushermay not be provided. As may be realized, when the rover disengages thefloor mounted charging pad, relative movement between the rover (e.g.the cover pusher 8822) and the floor mounted charging pad 8810 may allowthe biasing force on the cover 8841 to move the cover 8841 in thedirection of arrow 8899A so that the contacts 8816, 8818 are covered. Instill other aspects, hot swap circuitry 8418, 8518, or rectifier and hotswap circuitry 8618 may be mounted on a top side 8824 of the rovermounted charging pad 8820.

As mentioned above, an autonomous rover controller 8420, 8530, 8632, maycontrol charging of its onboard power source and/or each of the chargingmodules within each charging supply. According to some aspects, theautonomous rover controller 8420, 8530, 8632, may be configured toeffect different charging modes for the autonomous rover power sourcesdescribe above such as, for example, power sources 8482, 8522, 8622,8722. It should be understood that the specified voltage and currentlevels described are exemplary and may vary, for example, according tothe state of the power source being charged and the time available forcharging. The charging modes may include a pre-charge mode, a forcecharge mode, charge enabled and disabled modes, full, quick, andincomplete charge modes, and a trickle charge mode. According to someaspects, all modes except the pre-charge mode may require that theautonomous rover controller 8420, 8530, 8632 be active.

It should also be understood that when more than one autonomous rover isbeing charged simultaneously (as described above), in some aspects, allor most of the current may be supplied to the rover with the lowestpower source voltage until the power source voltage rises to that of arover having a next lowest power source voltage, at which point currentwill be shared between the charging rovers.

The pre-charge mode is used for a fully depleted power source, forexample, after shipping with shorted power source terminals. Thepre-charge mode may provide a constant current at, for example, anysuitable amperage such as approximately 5 A while the power sourcevoltage increases from approximately 0V to any suitable predeterminedvoltage such as approximately 18V.

The force charge mode may be activated if the output of the power sourceexceeds any suitable voltage such as, for example, approximately 14V. Inthe force charge mode, charging may be activated at any suitableconstant full current such as, for example, approximately 110 A or anyother suitable current.

A charge disabled mode may be activated when the rover power sourcevoltage is within normal operating limits and the autonomous rovercontroller determines that no charge is required. In other aspects, thecharge disabled mode may be activated at any suitable time.

A charge enabled mode may be activated when the rover power sourcevoltage is within normal operating limits and charging is required asdetermined by the autonomous rover controller. In other aspects, thecharge enabled mode may be activated at any suitable time.

The autonomous rover controller may activate a full charge mode at aconstant voltage in order to fully charge the rover power source to apredetermined value such as, for example, to approximately 99.3% (toaccount for power source voltage minus diode drop) of a predeterminedfull charge value. In other aspects, the full charge mode may beactivated at any suitable time.

A quick charge mode may be activated where a constant current charge isfollowed by a constant voltage charge but charging is terminated beforea full charge state is complete. This mode may provide a sufficientcharge level to allow the rover to complete at least one task assignedto the rover. The quick charge mode may be activated at any suitabletime.

The autonomous rover controller may activate an incomplete charge modewhen a rover is only required to complete a predetermined assigned task.In this mode charging may be terminated before completion, as soon arequired energy level to perform the assigned task is achieved. Theavailable energy for the assigned task may be estimated from the chargevoltage or determined in any other suitable manner.

The autonomous rover controller may also activate, at any suitable time,a trickle charge mode where the rover power supply is charged with arelatively low current over an extended period of time.

FIG. 27 shows an exemplary progression among different charging modes.Referring to item 8910, if the rover power source voltage is less thanany suitable predetermined threshold, for example, approximately 14-18V,the voltage of the charging supply may be detected in any suitablemanner such as by the a sensor or meter in the charging supply, bycontrol server 120 and/or by the rover controller as shown in item 8912.If the voltage of the charging supply exceeds any suitable predeterminedvoltage such as, for example, 30V, the rover may enter the pre-chargemode 8914 which provides, for example, any suitable constant currentsuch as, for example, approximately 5 A between any suitable voltagelevels such as approximately, 0V and 18V. Pre-charging mode may end whenthe rover power source reaches a predetermined voltage such as, forexample, approximately 18V, or if a force charge mode is activated, asshown in item 8916.

The force charge mode 8916 may be activated upon the output of the powersource reaching a suitable voltage such as, for example, approximately14V-18V during the pre-charge mode. In the force charge mode, chargingmay be activated at for example, full current, or any suitable currentsuch as approximately 110 A. The force charge mode 8916 may beterminated after the rover software is operational, as shown in item8918, and a bit is set in a register in the autonomous rover controller,shown as item 8922 and as explained below.

When the rover software is operational and the power source voltage iswithin normal operating limits (for example, approximately 25V to 46.3Vor any other suitable voltage range), charging may be disabled under thecontrol of the software running on the rover by setting a bit in acomplex programmable logic device (CPLD) register in the autonomousrover controller or in any other suitable location of the controller, asshown in item 8922. As shown in item 8920, charging may stop within anysuitable time period such as, for example, approximately 1 ms (could bemore or less than 1 ms) and the rover may move after verifying the bitsetting in the register and upon instruction from the control server.After charging has been disabled and the rover may leave the charginglocation with no risk of arcing on loss of pad contact or bounce.

FIG. 28 is a schematic illustration of a control system 81000 forcontrolling an autonomous rover charging system in accordance withaspects of the disclosed embodiment. The control system 81000 includescharger monitor software 81010 which according to some aspects, mayreside in a memory of control server 120. According to other aspects,the charger monitor software 81010 may reside in a memory of anautonomous rover controller such as controllers 8420, 8530, 8632described above. It is noted that the controller/control server wherethe software resides includes suitable structure for executing thesoftware such that the controller/control server is configured toperform or otherwise execute the software functions as described herein.The charging control system 81000 may provide for monitoring of thestate of each charging station, changing the state of each chargingstation individually under software control, terminating operation ofone or more charging supplies and disconnecting power to one or moresets of charging pads to allow maintenance access to a charginglocation. In this example, the charging stations 81020A-81020E,81021A-81021E, 81022A-81022E, 81023A-81023B are disposed at respectivelift 81050A, 81050B, 81050C, 81050D locations, where the lifts 81050A,81050B, 81050C, 81050D are substantially similar to one or more of lifts150A, 150B described above. In this aspect a single or common controlsystem 81000 is illustrated for the charging stations 81020A-81020E,81021A-81021E, 81022A-81022E, 81023A-81023B but in other aspects theremay be more than one control system (similar to control system 81000)where each control system is connected to any suitable number ofcharging stations. For example, charging stations 81020A-81020E and81021A-81021E may be connected to a common control system while chargingstations 81022A-81022E are connected to a separate control system andcharging stations 81023A-81023E are connected to yet another controlsystem.

As described above, a group of charging supplies, for example, incharging stations 8220 and 8300 each have a communications port 8222 and8310, respectively, for communication with the network 180.

The control system may also include a System Health Monitoring Function(HMF) as part of the charger monitor software 81010. The HMF maycorrelate information from the various autonomous rovers, chargingsupplies, and charging locations to determine the status of variouscomponents of the charging system. As an example only, a charging supplymay be visited by some number of rovers, each rover will visit somenumber of charging supplies, and a set of charging pads will be used bysome number of rovers. Synthesizing this information along with anyother suitable information, for example, a level of charge for eachrover, may enable, for example, identification of charging supplies inneed of maintenance or calibration, a precise determination of acapacitance for each rover, tracking of degradation or anomalies of thecharging system for accurate charging decisions, precise statisticalestimates of an average energy per assigned task for each rover,comparison of charging contactor properties, effective maintenance ofthe system, preemptive identification of rovers in need of maintenance,and any other suitable task.

The HMF may include continuous monitoring of one or more autonomousrovers 110. An autonomous rover 110 may utilize the communicationinterface to provide various operational parameters to the HMF such as,for example, time stamped power source voltage levels, allowing the HMFto determine an average energy consumption of the rover 110. Each rover110 may continuously monitor its power source voltage while charging,for example, at any suitable time interval such as approximately atleast 2 times per second and may disable charging and raise a warning(e.g. sends any suitable message to any suitable controller such assystem/control server 120) if the power source voltage exceeds apredetermined value. If several rovers 110 raise the same warning forthe same charging station, that station may need calibration or othermaintenance. While an autonomous rover might still be able to use thatcharging station because of an ability of the rover to detectovervoltage the charger monitor software 81010 may cause the chargingstation to be disabled.

The HMF may also provide a continuous monitoring function to the chargermonitor software 81010. For example, the HMF may continuously apprisethe charger monitor software 81010 of the health of the charging systemand allow for intelligent decisions regarding when to enable or disablechargers to minimize potentially damaging situations. The HMF maycollect and report health information for each charging station thatincludes charger timeouts, trips and over temperature. If, for example,over temperature or trip events exceed some predetermined number at acharging location within a predetermined time period, then the chargermonitor software 81010 HMF may disable charging at that location. TheHMF may periodically fetch and report any suitable error and warningwords from the charging stations, supplies, and modules. The chargermonitor software 81010 response to these error and warning words mayinclude instructing charging modules to automatically disable outputs ifone or more conditions are detected. During normal operations thecharger monitor software 81010 generally enables charging supplyoutputs.

The charger monitor software may also determine a minimum time forrovers to charge. For example, in one aspect the charger monitorsoftware 81010 may give every rover a minimum time to charge based uponan average charge time/job multiplied by some predetermined factor. Sucha charging scheme may have rovers fully charged to any suitablepredetermined working voltage such as, for example, approximately 46V,be tolerant of dead power supplies, and substantially eliminate use ofthe incomplete charge mode. In another aspect, the charger monitorsoftware 81010 may compute how much charge time is needed for the roverbased upon, for example, at least one or more of capacitance and voltagelevels and routing information.

Turning to FIGS. 29 and 30 , a remote charging unit 81210 may beprovided to charge at least one autonomous rover 110 requiring a chargeand unable to reach a charging location. The remote charging unit 81210may be sized and shaped so as to be transportable by maintenancepersonnel or another autonomous rover. In one aspect the remote chargingunit 81210 may take the form of a backpack, a carry case or have anyother suitable transportable configuration. In another aspect the remotecharging unit may be a transportable unit that can be mounted to orotherwise affixed to another autonomous rover 81310 (FIG. 30 ) fortransport through the storage and retrieval system.

The remote charging unit may include any suitable energy storage unit81212 such as a battery or capacitor. The energy storage unit may berechargeable so that the remote charging unit 81210 may be reusable. Theremote charging unit may include any suitable controls 81214. Forexample, the controls may provide for an operator to start and stop acharge and/or automatic start and stop of a charge upon, e.g., detectionthat the remote charging unit is coupled to the autonomous rover in needof charge. The remote charging unit may also include one or moreconnectors 81216 for transferring energy from the energy storage unit81212 to an onboard energy source of the at least one rover requiring acharge. Where two connections 81216 are provided simultaneous chargingof rovers may be performed. In one aspect a rover requiring a charge mayinclude a plug or other suitable connector 81218 in which the remotecharging unit connector 81216 interfaces for the transfer of energy. Inother aspects, such as when the remote charging unit 81210 is carried byanother rover 81310, the remote charging unit may include a probe 81220that interfaces with the connector 81218 of the rover requiring a chargesuch that when rovers 110 and 81310 are disposed adjacent one anotherthe probe is aligned with the receptacle (FIG. 30 ). The remote chargingunit 81210 may be used to charge one or more rovers (e.g. individuallyor simultaneously) at any location within the storage and retrievalstructure or outside the storage and retrieval structure.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment anautomated storage and retrieval system includes at least one autonomousrover for transferring payload within the automated storage andretrieval system, the at least one autonomous rover including acommunicator; a multilevel storage structure, each level of the storagestructure being configured to allow traversal of the at least oneautonomous rover; at least one registration station disposed atpredetermined locations on each level of the multilevel storagestructure, the at least one registration station being configured tocommunicate with the communicator to at least receive roveridentification information; and a controller in communication with theat least one registration station, the controller being configured toreceive the at least rover identification information and at least oneof register the at least one autonomous rover as being on a level of thestorage structure corresponding to a respective one of the at least oneregistration station or deregister the at least one autonomous roverfrom the automated storage and retrieval system, where the controllereffects induction of the at least one autonomous rover into apredetermined rover space on the level.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theautomated storage and retrieval system further includes at least onerover transfer station configured to physically insert or remove the atleast one autonomous rover to and from a respective level; wherein eachof the at least one rover transfer station includes a respectiveregistration station, the registration station being further configuredto send location information corresponding to a location of the at leastone rover with respect to a global automated storage and retrievalreference frame.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment alocation of each of the at least one registration station within themultilevel storage structure is mapped within a global automated storageand retrieval reference frame.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one registration station effects autonomous rover locationdetermination for allowing an autonomous rover lacking roverprepositioning information to commence operations from a cold startsubstantially anywhere within the multilevel storage structure.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one registration station effects updating a location of aregistered autonomous rover within the multilevel storage structure.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thecommunicator comprises one or more of a radio frequency identificationchip reader and an optical code reader.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment anautomated storage and retrieval system includes at least one autonomousrover for transferring payload within the automated storage andretrieval system, the at least one autonomous rover including acommunicator; a multilevel storage structure, each level of the storagestructure being configured to allow traversal of the at least oneautonomous rover; and at least one registration station disposed atpredetermined locations on each level of the multilevel storagestructure with respect to a global automated storage and retrievalreference frame, the at least one registration station being configuredto at least communicate with the communicator to send locationinformation to the at least one rover corresponding to a location of theat least one rover with respect to the global automated storage andretrieval reference frame for effecting at least a rover locationdetermination upon induction of the at least one rover into theautomated storage and retrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theautomated storage and retrieval system further includes at least onerover transfer station disposed on at least one level of the storagestructure, the at least one rover transfer station being configured tophysically insert or remove the at least one autonomous rover to andfrom a respective level; wherein each of the at least one rover transferstation includes a respective registration station.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theautomated storage and retrieval system further includes a controller incommunication with the at least one registration station; wherein thecontroller is configured to effect at least one of registration of theat least one autonomous rover upon induction of the at least one roverinto the multilevel storage structure, and deregistration of the atleast one autonomous rover upon extraction of the at least one roverfrom the multilevel storage structure.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one registration station effects autonomous rover locationdetermination for allowing an autonomous rover lacking roverprepositioning information to commence operations from a cold startsubstantially anywhere within the multilevel storage structure.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one registration station effects updating a location of aregistered autonomous rover within the multilevel storage structure.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thecommunicator comprises one or more of a radio frequency identificationchip reader and an optical code reader.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment anautomatic registration system for autonomous rovers is provided. Theautomatic registration system includes a rover space having a globalreference frame; at least one registration station disposed atpredetermined locations within the rover space, the at least oneregistration station being configured to communicate with each of theautonomous rovers to at least receive rover identification information;and a controller in communication with the at least one registrationstation, the controller being configured to receive the at least roveridentification information and at least one of register a correspondingautonomous rover as being at a predetermined location within the roverspace corresponding to a respective one of the at least one registrationstation or deregister the corresponding autonomous rover from the roverspace, where the controller effects induction of the correspondingautonomous rover into the rover space.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment therover space is a multilevel storage structure and the global referenceframe is a three dimensional reference frame of the multilevel storagestructure.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theautomatic registration system further includes at least one rovertransfer station configured to physically insert or remove the at leastone autonomous rover to and from the rover space; wherein each of the atleast one rover transfer station includes a respective registrationstation, the registration station being further configured to sendlocation information corresponding to a location of the at least onerover with respect to the global reference frame.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment alocation of each of the at least one registration station within therover space is mapped within the global reference frame.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one registration station effects autonomous rover locationdetermination for allowing an autonomous rover lacking roverprepositioning information to commence operations from a cold startsubstantially anywhere within the rover space.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one registration station effects updating a location of aregistered autonomous rover within the rover space.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one registration station is configured to communicate with eachof the autonomous rovers through one or more of a radio wave receiverand an optical code reader.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment anautomated storage and retrieval system includes at least one autonomousrover configured for transporting case units; at least one modular roverspace in which the at least one autonomous rover travels, each of the atleast one modular rover space including at least one multilevel verticalconveyor in communication with the at least one autonomous rover andconfigured to at least one of input and remove the case units from themodular rover space, storage spaces in communication with the at leastone autonomous rover and configured to hold the case units, and at leastone transfer deck configured to allow rover transit between the at leastone multilevel vertical conveyor and respective storage spaces; and atleast one rover module connected to the at least one transfer deck, theat least one rover module being configured to at least one of introduceand remove the at least one autonomous rover into at least onerespective modular rover space substantially independent of the inputand removal of case units to and from the automated storage andretrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one rover module is configured to at least one of introduce andremove the at least one autonomous rover into at least one respectivemodular rover space substantially independent of case unit transfer bythe at least one autonomous rover.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one transfer deck comprises at least two vertically stackedtransfer decks and the at least one rover module is configured totransfer the at least one autonomous rover to each of the at least twovertically stacked transfer decks.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one transfer deck comprises at least two vertically stackedtransfer decks and the at least one rover module is configured totransfer the at least one autonomous rover between each of the at leasttwo vertically stacked transfer decks while the at least one autonomousrover remains within the automated storage and retrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one modular rover space includes at least two modular roverspaces connected to each other to form a storage array of the automatedstorage and retrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment atleast two modular rover spaces are configured so that the at least oneautonomous rover transits between the at least two modular rover spaces.In one aspect the at least one rover module effects transit of the atleast one autonomous rover between the at least two modular roverspaces.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one rover module includes an identification system configuredto effect registration and deregistration of the at least one autonomousrover upon a respective loading and unloading of each autonomous roverinto the automated storage and retrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment eachtransfer deck includes at least one rover platform positioned tointerface with a respective rover module. In one aspect the at least onerover platform comprises a movable barrier at an interface between theat least one rover platform and the respective rover module.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one rover module effects rover load balancing between storagelevels of the automated storage and retrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one modular rover space is configured to isolate the at leastone automated rover within the automated storage and retrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment amethod of balancing a work load in an automated storage and retrievalsystem having multiple storage levels and at least one autonomous roveris provided. The method includes providing at least one rover module,the at least one rover module being in communication with each storagelevel; and transporting the at least one autonomous rover with the atleast one rover module to at least one of introduce and remove the atleast one autonomous rover at a predetermined storage level to effect atleast one of rover load balancing and work load balancing betweenstorage levels.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one autonomous rover is introduced into the predeterminedstorage level from another one of the multiple storage levels.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one autonomous rover is introduced into the predeterminedstorage level from outside of the automated storage and retrievalsystem.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one autonomous rover is removed from the predetermined storagelevel and transferred with the at least one rover module to another oneof the multiple storage levels.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one autonomous rover is removed from the predetermined storagelevel and transferred with the at least one rover module outside of theautomated storage and retrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment themethod further includes at least one of registering and deregisteringthe at least one autonomous rover upon a respective introduction andremoval of each autonomous rover at the predetermined storage level.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment anautomated storage and retrieval system is provided. The automatedstorage and retrieval system includes an autonomous rover; and amultilevel rack structure. The multilevel rack structure includescolumns connected by rail beams transversely spanning between thecolumns. The rail beams define storage and transport levels and provideriding surfaces for the autonomous rover. The rail beams includeintegral fatigue resistant rover location apertures.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, theautonomous rover includes sensors for detecting the rover locationapertures.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, therail beam members include fatigue resistant connections for coupling therail beam members to the columns.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment anautomated storage and retrieval system having autonomous rovers isprovided. The automated storage and retrieval system includes a firstautomated storage and retrieval section having respective structuraldynamic properties and a first rover support surface upon which theautonomous rovers travel; a second automated storage and retrievalsection having respective structural dynamic properties and a secondrover support surface upon which the autonomous rovers travel; and areleased interface disposed between the first and second rover supportsurfaces. The released interface being configured to allow relativemovement between the first and second rover support surfaces, andprovide an interface support surface upon which the autonomous roverstravel, the interface support surface extending between the first andsecond rover support surfaces.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thereleased interface includes an interface portion connected to one of thefirst or second rover support surface; and at least one movable platemovably connected to another one of the first or second rover supportsurface, the at least one moveable plate and the interface portion beingconfigured to releasably engage one another for providing the interfacesupport surface. In other aspects the interface portion includes firstfingers integrally formed with the one of the first or second roversupport surface and the at least one movable plate includes secondfingers that are interleaved with the first fingers. In still otheraspects the first rover support surface comprises at least one roverguide rail of a vertical lift module and the second rover supportsurface comprises a transfer deck surface. In yet another aspect theinterface portion comprises two interface portions and the at least onemovable plate comprises a movable plate for releasably engaging arespective one of the two interface portions. In still another aspectthe interface portion comprises two interface portions and the at leastone movable plate comprises a single plate for releasably engaging thetwo interface portions. In another aspect the at least one movable plateis movably coupled to the another one of the first or second roversupport surface with at least a two-degree of freedom coupling.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theautomated storage and retrieval system includes at least one verticallift module; and a transfer deck in communication with the at least onevertical lift module; wherein the first automated storage and retrievalsection comprises the at least one vertical lift module and the secondautomated storage and retrieval section comprises the transfer deck. Inanother aspect wherein the at least one vertical lift module includes aframe, rover guide rails, and an adjustable rail mounting bracketcoupling the rover guide rails to the frame. In one aspect theadjustable rail mounting bracket is configured to provide adjustment inthree degrees of freedom. In another aspect the at least one verticallift module comprises a rover charging station including compliantcontacts configured to engage the autonomous rovers.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment therespective structural dynamic properties of the first automated storageand retrieval section are different than the respective structuraldynamic properties of the second automated storage and retrievalsection.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment anautomated storage and retrieval system having autonomous rovers isprovided. The automated storage and retrieval system includes at leastone vertical lift module having at least one travel surface upon whichthe autonomous rovers travel; a transfer deck in communication with theat least one vertical lift module, the transfer deck including atransfer deck surface upon which the autonomous rovers travel; and areleased interface releasably connecting the at least one travel surfaceand the transfer deck surface, the released interface forming anautonomous rover riding surface extending between the at least onetravel surface and the transfer deck surface.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one vertical lift module includes a frame, and a rail mountingbracket configured to adjustably couple the at least one travel surfaceto the frame.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment theat least one vertical lift module comprises a rover charging stationincluding compliant contacts configured to engage the autonomous rovers.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment thereleased interface includes an interface portion connected to one of theat least one travel surface or the transfer deck surface; and at leastone movable plate movably connected to another one of the at least onetravel surface or the transfer deck surface, the at least one moveableplate and the interface portion being configured to releasably engageone another and provide the autonomous rover riding surface. In anotheraspect the interface portion includes first fingers integrally formedwith the at least one travel surface or the transfer deck surface andthe at least one movable plate includes second fingers that areinterleaved with the first fingers. In yet another aspect the interfaceportion comprises two interface portions and the at least one movableplate comprises a movable plate for releasably engaging a respective oneof the two interface portions. In still another aspect the interfaceportion comprises two interface portions and the at least one movableplate comprises a single plate for releasably engaging the two interfaceportions. In another aspect the at least one movable plate is movablycoupled to the another one of the at least one travel surface or thetransfer deck surface with at least a two-degree of freedom coupling.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, acharging system for an autonomous rover includes a charging interfacewith contacts that interface with the autonomous rover, a rover powersource for the autonomous rover, and circuitry operated by theautonomous rover for controlling charging of the rover power source.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, anoutput of the charging interface is enabled when the rover accesses andde-accesses the contacts.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecharging system includes one or more charging stations each of whichincludes the charging interface and rover entry to a charging station isdecoupled or independent from a charging station status.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecharging system includes a charging supply connected to the charginginterface, the charging supply being configured to switch between one ormore of a constant current output mode, a constant voltage output mode,or a constant power output mode and switching between different outputmodes may be effected by one or more of automatically by the chargingsupply and by commands received from the circuitry operated by theautonomous rover.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecircuitry operated by the autonomous rover is configured to control anoutput of the charging interface to effect charging of the rover powersource independent of a charging interface status when the autonomousrover accesses and de-accesses the contacts.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecharging interface is disposed at a charging location and the circuitryoperated by the autonomous rover is configured to cause an output of thecharging interface to change between a safe and unsafe state to effect ahot swap entry and departure of the autonomous rover with respect to thecharging location.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecharging system for an autonomous rover is part of a storage andretrieval system.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, acharging system for an autonomous rover includes one or more chargingstations configured to engage the autonomous rover, each of the chargingstations comprising a charging supply; and a power source for theautonomous rover, wherein autonomous rover entry to a charging stationis decoupled or independent from a charging station status.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, anoutput of the charging supply is enabled when the rover accesses andde-accesses a respective charging station.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecharging supply is configured to switch between one or more of aconstant current output mode, a constant voltage output mode, and aconstant power output mode.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment,switching between different output modes may be effected by one or moreof automatically by the charging supply and by commands received fromthe circuitry operated by the autonomous rover.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecharging system further includes circuitry on-board and operated by theautonomous rover, the circuitry being configured to control an output ofthe one or more charging stations to effect charging of the power sourceindependent of a charging station status when the autonomous roveraccesses and de-accesses the contacts.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, acharging system for an autonomous rover includes a charging stationhaving contacts configured to engage the autonomous rover, a powersource for the autonomous rover, and circuitry operated by theautonomous rover the circuitry being configured to cause an output ofthe charging station to change between a safe and unsafe state to effecta hot swap entry and departure of the autonomous rover with respect tothe charging station.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, anoutput of the charging station is enabled when the rover accesses andde-accesses the contacts.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, thecharging supply is configured to switch between one or more of aconstant current output mode, a constant voltage output mode, and aconstant power output mode.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment,switching between different output modes may be effected by one or moreof automatically by the charging supply and by commands received fromthe circuitry operated by the autonomous rover.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, acharging system for an autonomous rover includes a system controller anda charging station with one or more charging interfaces configured toengage the autonomous rover for charging, wherein entry to the chargingstation is under control of the autonomous rover and independent of thesystem controller.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment, anoutput of the charging interface is energized when the autonomous roveraccesses and de-accesses the contacts.

In accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosed embodiment,entry to the charging station is independent of communication betweenthe autonomous rover and the system controller.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is onlyillustrative of the aspects of the disclosed embodiment. Variousalternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in theart without departing from the aspects of the disclosed embodiment.

Accordingly, the aspects of the disclosed embodiment are intended toembrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances that fallwithin the scope of the appended claims. Further, the mere fact thatdifferent features are recited in mutually different dependent orindependent claims does not indicate that a combination of thesefeatures cannot be advantageously used, such a combination remainingwithin the scope of the aspects of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating an automated storage andretrieval system having more than one storage levels and at least oneautonomous rover, the method comprising: providing at least one roverentry or exit station, the at least one rover entry or exit stationbeing in communication with at least one storage level of the more thanone storage levels; and effecting, with a controller, insertion orremoval of the at least one autonomous rover via the at least one roverentry or exit station to at least one of introduce and remove the atleast one autonomous rover at a predetermined storage level, andmaintaining, with the controller, via the insertion and removal at thepredetermined storage level, a predetermined number of one or more ofthe at least one of rover engaged in task allocation effecting roverwork load free of interference with the one of more rovers engaged intask allocation effecting rover work load on the predetermined storagelevel.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one autonomousrover is introduced into the predetermined storage level from one ormore of the another one of the more than one storage levels, and outsideof the automated storage and retrieval system.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one autonomous rover is removed from thepredetermined storage level and transferred with the at least one roverentry or exit station to the another one of the more than one storagelevels or transferred with the at least one rover entry or exit stationoutside of the automated storage and retrieval system, where transfer ofthe at least one autonomous rover with the at least one rover entry orexit station is decoupled from case unit input and output from thestorage and retrieval system.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising at least one of registering and deregistering the at leastone autonomous rover upon a respective introduction and removal of eachautonomous rover at the predetermined storage level.
 5. An automatedstorage and retrieval system having more than one storage levels and atleast one autonomous rover, the system comprising at least one roverentry or exit station, the at least one rover entry or exit stationbeing in communication with at least one storage level of the more thanone storage levels; and a controller configured to: insert or remove anidle autonomous rover of the at least one autonomous rover via the atleast one rover entry or exit station to at least one of introduce andremove the idle autonomous rover at the at least one storage level, andthe controller is configured to effect at least one of introduce andremoval of the idle autonomous rover; and maintain via the insertion andremoval at the predetermined storage level, a predetermined number ofone or more of the at least one of rover engaged in task allocationeffecting rover work load independent of and non-interfering with otherof the at least one autonomous rover engaged in task allocationeffecting rover work load at a predetermined storage level upon arespective introduction and removal of each autonomous rover at thepredetermined storage level.
 6. The automated storage and retrievalsystem of claim 5, wherein the idle autonomous rover is introduced intothe predetermined storage level from one or more of another one of themultiple storage levels, and outside of the automated storage andretrieval system.
 7. The automated storage and retrieval system of claim5, wherein the idle autonomous rover is removed from the predeterminedstorage level and transferred with the at least one rover entry or exitstation to another one of the multiple storage levels or transferredwith the at least one rover entry or exit station outside of theautomated storage and retrieval system, where transfer of the idleautonomous rover with the at least one rover entry or exit station isdecoupled from case unit input and output from the storage and retrievalsystem.
 8. The method of claim 5, further comprising at least one ofregistering and deregistering the at least one autonomous rover upon arespective introduction and removal of each autonomous rover at thepredetermined storage level.
 9. A method of operating an automatedstorage and retrieval system having more than one storage levels and atleast one autonomous rover, the method comprising: providing at leastone rover entry or exit station, the at least one rover entry or exitstation being in communication with at least one storage level of themore than one storage levels; and effecting, with a controller:inserting or removing of an idle autonomous rover of the at least oneautonomous rover via the at least one rover entry or exit station to atleast one of introduce and remove the idle autonomous rover at the atleast one storage level, and effecting at least one of introduce andremoval of the idle autonomous rover; and maintaining via the insertionand removal at the predetermined storage level, a predetermined numberof one or more of the at least one of rover engaged in task allocationeffecting rover work load independent of and non-interfering with otherof the at least one autonomous rover engaged in task allocationeffecting rover work load at a predetermined storage level upon arespective introduction and removal of each autonomous rover at thepredetermined storage level.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the idleautonomous rover is introduced into the predetermined storage level fromone or more of another one of the multiple storage levels, and outsideof the automated storage and retrieval system.
 11. The method of claim9, wherein the idle autonomous rover is removed from the predeterminedstorage level and transferred with the at least one rover entry or exitstation to another one of the multiple storage levels or transferredwith the at least one rover entry or exit station outside of theautomated storage and retrieval system, where transfer of the idleautonomous rover with the at least one rover entry or exit station isdecoupled from case unit input and output from the storage and retrievalsystem.
 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising at least one ofregistering and deregistering the at least one autonomous rover upon arespective introduction and removal of each autonomous rover at thepredetermined storage level.